Magazine Industry Overview

The magazine industry in Britain is a massive market catering to many different audiences, varying on age, gender, location, sex, hobbies, lifestyle and so many more! There are 8000 titles published in Britain, 3200 being consumer magazines (consumer magazines being aimed at audiences to entertain and inform). Over 2.74 billion pounds was spent on magazines in 2008 from both consumers and advertisers. Recently, however, there have been issues faced by magazine companies such as the recent increase in popularity for technology-based media such as online magazines, newspapers and books. This has had a massive impact on the printing and publishing companies due to a shift in the market, but this doesn't mean that the demand for magazines will decline but rather that they must work harder to survive. The recession has also brought down sales in the magazine industry including a hit on the massive music magazine 'NME' causing their sales to drop 14.3% in the first half of 2011. If you are looking to make a new magazine, you must be prepared for disappointment as only 3 in 10 survive for more than 4 years, and with 500 new magazines launched every year, competition is tough.
The biggest magazine publishers are Bauer with a market share of 25% while Time Warner has a share of 20%, BBC with a share of 7.8% and Hearst with 7.3%. I believe that the success of these companies is down to the fact that they cater to many gaps in the market.
Overall, the market for printed magazines seems quite fragile yet the fight, drive and determination is still present in the industry, even if that means adapting along with the rest of the market by integrating technology into their business, such as apps and online magazines. Where the recession is concerned, most industries have been hit and it's just a case of repairing damages caused. After all, 85% of the population is said to read magazines.