Industries & Men's Health
1) Hearst UK is part of Hearst Communications. What is Hearst Communications and where is it based?
Hearst owns a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, television channels, and television stations is an American mass media and business information conglomerate based in New York City, New York.
2) What media industries and brands make up the Hearst Communications conglomerate?
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5) What is James Wildman's plan for Hearst UK?
"I think we should charge for our premium content", which shows that he thinks that he believes that some of the content which they provide online should be provided for a premium cost, however understands that people are used to receiving free content, therefore stating that some of the most premium content should have a price tag. Hearst runs about 100 events a year and he plans to focus on fewer, bigger events such as Esquire Town House, to keep the events as exclusive as possible and reducing the number of events supplied makes the demand for these events higher, which only makes them more exclusive.
6) What percentage ad decline are consumer magazines facing?
Consumer magazines are facing ad declines of more than 10% this year.
7) What does Wildman think about premium content and paywalls?
Wildman thinks that premium content should be charged for as the costs for having this content costs and that some of the content which they have should be free however not all of it.
8) How has Hearst used diversification to grow the business?
Read this Hearst UK press release for their late 2017 ABC figures.
Diversification is one way which Hearst used diversification to grow the business as it focuses on making money from different methods and somewhat abandons traditional conventions as it aims to make revenue from events and has made deals with companies to try and allow them to advertise their own products at the events for a fee.
9) Is Men's Health increasing or decreasing in circulation?
They have grown in circulation since the previous years, however they have in fact had to resort to doing things such as handing out copies of the magazine at "strategic locations" which seems to have been working for them, however they appear to be struggling due to the drastic decrease in ad revenue.
10) What explanation is provided by Hearst for the success of their magazines in a tough print market?
The explanation provided by Hearst for the success of their magazines in a tough print market is that they are always adapting to the different changes in technology and what is happening with trends and also that they have the best "influencers" to promote the brand and magazines.
The impact of digital media on the print magazines industry
Read this BBC website feature on the print magazine industry and then this Guardian feature on the demise of NME magazine and print magazines in general.
1) Why are traditional print magazines struggling?
Traditional print magazines are struggling due to the fact that people are used to the fact that content which is online is almost always available for free and that it will of course be easier for people to access their media online at the touch of a button rather than going to the shop and paying for their content.
2) What genre of magazines is currently bucking the trend and increasing sales? Why is this?
Two magazines which have bucked the trend are "The Economist" and also "Prospect" and the article states that the reason for this is that there has been a large change in the amount of magazine articles which have had to compete with online content and people sharing mainstream and celebrity news on social media which can be shared and reach a much wider audience in a short period of time.
3) In contrast, what magazine genres are struggling? Give examples of magazines that have declined or stopped printing altogether.
In contrast magazine articles which have declines are magazines such as "look" and "vogue" magazine which have seen a rough year as the number of people who are purchasing the magazine have gone downhill as many of these previous magazine users have reverted to social media which is what everyone else is using and has now resulted in them being able to never look back as they receive their media, content and in these cases gossip of celebrities much faster then if they were to receive their content from magazines.
4) Look at the Guardian article in detail. What statistics are provided to demonstrate the decline in the print magazines industry between 2010 and 2017? What about the percentage decline from 2000?
"Sales of the top 100 actively purchased print titles in the UK – those that readers buy or subscribe to – fell by 42% from 23.8m to 13.9m between 2010 and 2017."
"Since the start of the internet era in 2000, the decline is 55% from 30.8m, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations."
5) What percentage of ad revenue is taken by Google and Facebook?
"Google and Facebook account for 65% of the $6.5bn (£4.7bn) UK digital display ad market."
(65%)
6) What strategies can magazine publishers use to remain in business in the digital age?
Wildman says for magazines to survive they must build a brand beyond the core print publication. The article suggests that people are actually finding that magazine titles and articles are simply too generic and this is why people are moving away from this to access their content online and be able to reach a much larger range of content as there are also very many niche audiences which are not able to access the content which they would like over the print magazines as the companies which are printing their content find that it is not economical enough for them to print this content, however with the costs largely reduced for online content they are able to publish much more content and don't lose much if many people don't enjoy it.
7) Why does the Hearst UK CEO James Wildman suggest that the magazine industry is not dead?
He states that they have such a very large fan base still and that they have moved many of their users online and have publishings on things such as snapchat, which many people still view, however does admit that when surveying people they found that over 1 million of their snapchat users actually did not know that there was a magazine title under the same name.
8) What examples from the Guardian article are provided to demonstrate how magazines are finding new revenue streams? What is the Men's Health branding used for?
Magazines are finding new revenue stream by putting their brand name on commercial items and taking a cut of the money as consumers will be purchasing the products as they will see a brand which they already know and love and will be convinced into purchasing the product. Argos host the mens health home gym which is the best selling home gym and the likely reason being that mens health have endorsed the product.
9) What signs for optimism might there be for traditional magazine brands?
Some signs of optimism may be that the Internet content could be seen as a sort of trend and now people in some cases have been moving back to magazines articles and some have continued to stay with these traditional magazine brands, however on different platforms such as over the internet or on social media sites such as Snapchat and cosmopolitan.10) How does Men's Health fit into this picture? Why do you think Men's Health has remained successful in the digital age? Do you think Men's Health will continue to publish for many years to come? Why?
I think that mens health has remained successful in the digital age as they have learn to adapt to the change to online content and have continued to use famous faces on their magazines to attract customers and have rebranded themselves to show that their magazines are premium products for £3.99 which is a very difficult task as they have turned a product which is priced so that everyone can afford the product, however made it seem like a premium product.
The Men's Health website and social media
Visit the Men's Health website, Twitter feed and Instagram. You may need to complete this part of the case study at home if it is blocked in school.
1) What similarities do you notice between the website and the print edition of the magazine?
I have noticed that both the website and print edition of the magazine exploit the use of familiar famous faces as they have many famous faces on the very home page so that people are intrigued into reading each individual article in more detail.
2) What is the Men's Health daily newsletter and what does it include? How does this help Hearst UK to make money?
The mens health newsletter is actually a subscription service which people are encouraged to purchase if they would like specific more premium content for a price and promote it heavily as I was encouraged to subscribe to it as soon as I went on the site. The way it helps the magazine make money is that consumers will pay a fee to them to access this exclusive content.
3) Look at the menu bar along the top of the website. What are the menu options? What does this suggest about the representation of men and masculinity associated with Men's Health?
6/8 of the menu options are about health and fitness and still suggests that these are the only things which are Important to be considered a man and highly suggests that the traditional views of masculinity are the only way as the other 2/8 menu options are "style" and "watches", which doesn't stray too far from the fact that they are promoting men should look a certain way to be seen as masculine.
4) Choose one of the menu sections and write a list of the features in that area of the website. What target audience are these features aimed at?
One of the first things which I noticed was that as soon as you hover over one of the titles you get a selection of different things to chose and one of the options is "celebrity muscle" under the option of muscle which shows that they are already attempting to flood consumers with the celebrity endorsement which they have. Once you select the "muscle" men option, you are greeting with images of more celebrities, which would be associated with masculine films, as this is likely someone who is going to go on their site and select this option, such as Hugh Jackman and a reference to wolverine.
5) Do you think the Men's Health website is trying to sell the print version or simply build a digital audience? What are the advantages and disadvantages of a 'digital first' strategy?
I think that Mens health would prefer if their audience were using the old model of purchasing print copied of the magazine, where they could charge for the magazine and receive a large revenue from advertisements, however have noticed that all media content Is moving toward online content and social media, which is why they have not hesitated to register their brands onto social media and online sites as they know that they have to compete with these social media sites and also new online forms of the magazines such as BuzzFeed which provide online content and also videos. I think they have noticed that their costs have reduced largely and will attempt to use this in their advantage online.
6) How does the Men's Health Twitter feed use 'clickbait' to try and get users to click through to the magazine's website? Give examples of tweets that are designed to get the audience to click through.
I think that the Men's Health twitter feed use clickbait to try and get users to click through to the magazines website as this is what many other people such as youtubers do to almost "trick" users into reading their content or watching their content by giving them false hope of receiving some piece of information which is exclusive and they will only be able to find by using this magazine and gets them to click on the website, which may lead to them enjoying it and subscribe or increase their statistics as it means that they are more likely to receive payment from advertising companies who look at these statistics and see that a lot of people are reading the content or visiting the site.
7) How does the Twitter feed uses images and video content alongside text and links?
The twitter feed uses images and video content alongside text as people are more likely to react to images online and be much more intrigued by images and videos as this is what they see online on social media so they would not see this as a bore and simply scroll past it.
8) What does the Men's Health Instagram suggest about the Men's Health brand? Is this appealing to a similar audience to the print version of the magazine?
I think that the mens health instagram suggests that the brand is premium and does appeal to a similar audience of higher class and will make them more likely to purchase the magazine print as the instagram always seems to promote the print version of the magazine and doesn't mention the online version as much and shows the front cover of the magazine in hopes they will buy it and once again uses celebrity endorsement in the same way their other platforms such as the online version and print version.
9) Is the Men's Health social media designed to sell the print magazine or build a digital audience? Why?
The mens health social media is designed to sell the print magazine in my opinion over building a digital audience as they are promoting the print version of the magazine much more and I think the reason that they post pictures of the front cover of the magazine and not the website is because the people who are looking at this content on instagram probably know that there is an online version of this content which is what they already probably read on and the mens health social media is used to promote the magazine print edition more.
10) Evaluate the success of the Men's Health brand online. Does it successfully communicate with its target audience? Will the digital platforms eventually replace the print magazine completely?
I think that the Mens Health brand online is attempting to not stray to far from the print edition which their fans already know, however mainly attempts to ignore the print cover consumers and simply attempts to get more users who are not consuming the content at all to move towards accessing the content online for free and at least be exposed to the content. I think that the online editions are interactive with the audiences and have used social media to reach a wide range of audiences. I think that the digital platforms will eventually replace the print magazines, however I think that some people are comfortable with the current print magazines as they have never seen anything different and are not prepared for change to online content and I think that this is a more middle aged demographic and the magazines will find that when the number of people who are accessing this content becomes less and less over the ages will completely move their focus to digital media as they will simply not be able to afford to keep this running.
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