NEA Task 3 : Research Into The UK Magazine Industry

 Overview of the UK magazine industry:

The magazine industry is mainly dominated by the major publishers Bauer Media, Immediate Media Company and Future PLC, it is estimated that these top three control 80% of the national print circulation. According to circulation figures the most popular magazines are The National Trust Magazine taking the number one spot, then followed by Tesco Magazine then by Asda Good Living and finally The Economist. Different magazine media reaches 76% of adults in the United Kingdom every month. However it is evident that the UK consumer magazine industry has been detrimentally impacted. From moving to online, the Coronavirus pandemic and a sharp decline in sales, the industry has been upended in recent years. Like many print publications, magazines also have declining circulation figures, this is due to more people turning to digital media for their news and entertainment. However, these digital editions and subscriptions are not making up for the drop in sales. Historically in the UK, in the year 2000 1.6 million magazines were circulated but last year that number fell down to 565 million. Some magazine sectors have been more affected than others, for example men's magazines circulation figures specifically, fell by 89% from 32.2 million to 3.6 million between 2017 to 2021. Whereas women's magazines are still popular in terms of the number of copies circulated with 192 million in 2021.

Another financial challenge the UK magazine industry is facing is the decline in advertising revenue. Magazines are struggling because digital advertising spend has been monopolised by tech companies such as Facebook, Instagram and Google. This is argued to be the result of the pandemic as the revenue figure fell by 33% from 2019 to 2020 and has not managed to recover. However promising figures have projected magazines to account for almost £560.4 million of advertisement spend in 2022. The brands that advertise the most in magazines include Apple, Chanel, Sainsburys and Victoria Plum, which shows that despite the fall in readers, well established brands still want to advertise to magazine readers. Figures show that magazine media reaches 76% of adults across the nation, which is still a promising statistic.

In terms of consumer expenditure, figures show that it has accordingly grown smaller over recent years. In 2020 consumers spent £669 million which is significantly smaller than the £1.4 billion spent in the year 2000. This could be a result of the fall in number of titles available, for example in 2000 there was more than 700 titles on offer which has fallen to 241 in 2021. Therefore consumers may not have access to their favourite magazine and not be able to purchase it as it is discontinued. Another reason why sales may have fallen is because consumers can substitute the content found in a magazine on online media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. However it is important to remain optimistic about magazines as according to PAMCo's findings 72% of readers still think that purchasing and reading a magazine is time well spent and 91% trust the validity of the content within it.