MAGAZINE MARKETS

In the majority of cases, magazines are a national media. Upon request state and regional insertions may be possible.

MAGAZINE CLASSIFICATIONS

Magazines can be classified generally by their reader profile. They can be consumer magazines which are usually paid for titles around lifestyle interests, like Marie Claire or business / trade magazines which are specialist titles for key industries, like AdNews for the advertising industry.

Consumer magazines can be further classified across abroad spectrum of content areas. The main ones include: Home and Garden Food and Entertainment Fashion Women’s Lifestyle Men’s Lifestyle Health and Family General Interest Sport and Motoring Special Interest

MAGAZINE SECTIONS

Each magazine has its own individual sections. For a woman’s magazine, this may include specific sections dedicated to health / beauty, food, fashion, gardening, gadgets etc. Magazines may also publish a list of features throughout the year (i.e. Christmas Special).

MAGAZINE FORMATS

Standard sizes would include Full-page, Double Page Spread, Half Page, Third Page and Quarter page formats. Other options may be considered on application. Full Colour, spot colour or Black and White options are available. Other creative options are inserts, cover mounts, tip ones, gatefolds to name a few.

MAGAZINE PLACEMENT

Placement can be non specific i.e. run of book or specific placement. Some specific placements include appearing around particular content or up the front of the book, inside front or inside back covers, right page or left page, centrespread, outside back cover and consecutive pages.

MAGAZINE RATES

Publications publish a rate card which many make available on their website. Rates will depend on the size dimensions, colour requirements and placement of the advertisement. The volume of spend in a publication will influence the level of discount applied. Generally a request to have a specific placement will attract a loading.

MAGAZINE ISSUE DATES

Magazines have several applicable dates. The cover date – which is published on the magazine (for example a monthly magazine may have September on the cover). The on sale date – which is the date the magazine is a available for purchase (for example a monthly magazine with a cover date of September may in fact be on the shelves in mid August). Monthly magazines have booking and creative delivery deadlines a long way prior to on sale dates. These need to be considered when planning.

MAGAZINE BUYING CONSIDERATIONS

There are three key criteria for selecting a magazine for a campaign:

Reach

Target audience delivery of the title.

Cost efficiency

The cost of the title vs the number of people in the target market it reaches.

Environment

The relevance of the title to the advertising communication.

Once the magazine title(s) have been selected based on these factors, the activity is bought by specifying the on sale date and cover date of the issue, size of the advertisement, placement requirements and negotiating the rate.

Often online websites for magazines are also an opportunity in conjunction with a magazine buy. Advertising may be negotiated alongside the print buy or may require a specific brief to an alternative sales representative for the online site.