Magazine Industry Overview

Magazine Industry Overview

The magazine industry in the UK has changed dramatically over the years, what was once a solely print based line of business is fast becoming digital and this has led to many changes in the magazine industry.

The rise of technology has led to the need for all magazines to digitally converge in some form, for example most likely every magazine has its own website and most magazines offer digital copies. This is to help combat the fall in print sales, NME for example has since 2009 experienced a 20% drop year on year and has had to transform itself into a brand to gain multiple revenue streams. There has even been an emergence of companies that solely focus on online magazine for example a company named LivinglyMedia has three such magazines.

Although the rise of technology may be the beginning of the end for printed magazines it has not deterred some magazines. Magazines like Clash try to create a higher quality product that people will choose to collect rather than throw which has so far proved successful. This may be an idea adopted by other magazines and could become an integral section of the magazine industry.

Free magazines have also seen a rise in recent years. They rely solely upon the income of selling advertisement space within their magazines. This has been successful since it removes the need for a customer to be willing to pay for the magazine and selling advertisement space can be incredibly lucrative, magazines such as vogue command upwards of £100,000.

The size of the magazine industry has dwindled somewhat over the years, with print sales falling so low however the proliferation of technology has created a platform for the magazine industry to grow again.