Magazine Genres

1. What is a 'genre'?

A Genre is any form or type of communication in any mode with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time.

2. What is a 'magazine'?

A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination of the three.

Source: Wikipedia

3. Discuss the difference between PRINT & DIGITAL magazines.

Advantages of Print

Appeal to visual learners. Flashy images in magazines get the attention of many magazine readers.
Still gives a higher ROI than digital ads.
Loyal customer base.
Flexible.
Establish trust.
Reach multiple generations.
Best for local targeting.
Not for a global audience.

Disadvantages of Print

Not for a global audience
Requires a lot of planning
Hard to target a specific audience
Might not stand out
Higher cost

Source: TigerNix

Advantages:

Interactive: You have a range of interactive features to choose from to create a truly engaging experience for your readers.
Low Cost: The costs are relatively low compared to printed magazines. One of these being transportation costs.
Reach: With an online magazine, you can reach readers all over the world. Your readers will remain loyal as they can change location and still receive your content via your digital edition.
Dynamic: Digital magazines are extremely dynamic. They can be read on tablets and mobile devices anywhere and anytime. Readers can access the information without delays.
Unsold Stock: There are no fears of having unsold stock like that of printed newspapers and magazines.
Environmentally Friendly: With digital magazines, there’s no need for paper or ink.
Revenue: They open new sustainable revenue channels through advertising and ecommerce.

Disadvantages:

Digital magazines can sometimes be harder to read than printed magazines as the reader must be able to zoom in and out. Again, this would depend on the chosen digital magazine software. Other issues some people may face is outdated software, poor internet connection and download speeds. With a physical magazine or newspaper, you needn’t worry about it running out of power.

Source: 3dissue

4. List as many different categories of magazines as you can.

Source: TheMeGrill

5. Profile five types of magazines highlighting:

- Type of content

- Target audience (gender, age, ethnicity)

Health Magazine: Health magazines usually focus on human health and fitness with an emphasis on living a healthy lifestyle. These magazines usually target individuals who want to prevent lifestyle diseases and medical conditions or who already have them but want to live a healthier lifestyle. (Source: FreelanceWriting) The people who would read this would be in the age of group of early 20s to 30s, this is because these types of people would be more focused on keeping themselves healthy and fit. Gender based would be stereotypically men because health magazines focused on building muscles and such are more aimed towards men, however women also partake in health magazines. Class-wise it would be more upper class/middle class people that these magazines are targeted towards this is due to the fact that eating healthy is very expensive and not many lower class people can afford it. These people would usually fall under the succeeder psychometric.

Fashion Magazines: According to a survey by Statista, the majority of Elle UK readers are over 15 years old, making most fashion magazine advertising targeted towards adults. Out of the total number of readers, almost one million are over the age of 35, and nearly 700 thousand subscriptions belong to households with children. (Source: FashionDiscounts) The people who would read this would be in the age group 15-20. The people who would stereotypically read this would be women as they are known to like more fashion but this is also a huge generalisation as men as well can be interested in fashion. It would be mainly upper class/middle class people who read the high end fashion magazines such as ELLE and Vogue but lower class people may read cheaper ones.

Children's Magazines: In research from Mintel's Children's Comics and Magazines report, published in August, paints a different picture. It shows that the children's comics and magazines market grew by 24% between 2001 and 2005, when it was worth £10m, and that 38% of children regularly read magazines and 25% read comics. (Source: CampaignLive). The age group who read these would obviously be children, ranging from 6-10 years old but that also depends on what kind of magazine it is and the contents. Childrens magazines are also quite cheap so I think it will be targeted towards lower class people.

Pets Magazines: Dogs Monthly magazine boasts national coverage. Its audience are highly consumer focused and tend to be either a new dog owner or individuals who are less informed about the dog industry. It is where many owners go for advice on feeding, general products and training. (Source: PetSubject) The target audience of pet magazines would people who own pets or are looking to own pets. Gender wise it is said that most readers of pet magazines are women. The class of people who would read these magazines would be middle/upper-class this is because owning a pet is quite expensive as you have to do lots of things for them.

Sports Magazines: These magazines promote sports and a better way of life. As a result, many sports journals cater to a specific demographic. This indicates that the magazines are devoted, loyal, and appealing to the target demographic. In this situation, the target audience for sporting magazines will be those who participate in sports, desire to start sports, or are interested in sports. Sport is a hobby, thus the demographics of the magazines would be informative. It is not a gendered sport because all genders have an interest in it. These magazines may also appeal to anyone with a work that requires them to stay in shape and live a healthy lifestyle.