Overview of the magazine industry

Overview of the magazine industry Looking at the magazine industry as a whole, the top five selling magazines worldwide are National Geographic (circulation per issue is 4 million), Good Housekeeping (circulation per issue is 4.3 million), Better Homes & Gardens (circulation per issue is 22.5 million), Game Informer (circulation per issue is 8.1 million), and AARP Magazine (circulation per issue is 22.5 million). This is probably because they are all magazines, which appeal to a lot of people, and don’t have a particular target audience. The top five music magazines are Entertainment Weekly (52 issues per year), Rolling Stone (26 issues per year), Billboard (50 issues per year), Variety (50 issues per year), and NME Special Series (4 issues per year). Most of these magazines publish weekly, except for NME Special Series. Entertainment Weekly covers all aspects of entertainment, not just music. Looking at how music magazines became popular, one of the most popular music magazines for half a century was Melody Maker. Its 1928 ‘honours list’ is regarded as the UK’s first music chart. Looking at a report of the magazine industry in 2009, I can see that most magazine publishers were struggling. The majority of the larger publishing companies will be looking more dominant, whilst the smaller titles will struggle even more. The magazine industry’s main sources of revenue, advertising and print sales, both fell during the economic downturn. Along with that, many magazines are becoming digital. This could be considered a good thing because less money would be spent on production, therefore there would be a bigger profit. However, it wouldn’t reach certain audiences, like the older generations.