Research of the UK magazine Industry:
According to Press Gazelle, over the past few years the UK consumer industry has had a drastic shift, predominantly with many magazine companies moving to online and the obvious impact Covid-19 had on the industry. In terms of the kind of magazines that have been hurt the most in recent years, men's magazines have definitely been massively affected, specifically by competition from visual social media platforms like Instagram. However, if you compare this to magazines that cover topics such as current affairs or news that have not be hit nearly as bad. Despite this, print is still fairly popular but there has been a decline that has been falling for long while. This decline is partly due to the fact that subscriptions and digital editions of the magazines do not makeup for the sales that were lost in the drop. In the UK magazine industry it isn't rare to talk of the industry, however some of the more successful titles no longer see themselves in that way, or apart of the industry. This industry is dominated by publishers such as Bauer Media Group, Future PLC and Immediate Media company, these three companies put together are estimated to control 80% of the UK's print circulation. Magazines have been hit dramatic falls in print advertising revenue, as well as digital marketing have been taken over and now under the control of large tech companies such as Google and Facebook. For many years, advertising revenue has been declining in the UK Magazine scene, but it was the pandemic that caused the pace of the fall to be increased, it fell by 33% from 2019 to 2020 and has not recovered since.
Magazine circulation has also massively decreased, in 2000 1.6 million magazines were circulated around the UK, however in 2021 this had decreased to 565 million according to Audit Bureau of Circulation. In the past 5 years, alongside men's magazines which circulation dropped by 89% from 32.3 million to 3.6 million between the years of 2017 to 2021, music magazine also decreased in popularity majorly, their circulation dropped by 90% to 1.8 million. Despite this, women's magazines are still quite popular when looking their circulation, in 2021 192 million magazines were circulated around the country, which is only a 45% decrease. According to Douglas McCabe, magazines that consumers are able to replace with something online are the ones which are affected the most. Online subscriptions seem like a good idea to increase revenue for companies, however they do not majorly benefit magazine industry, in 2021 subscriptions only accounted for 27% of magazines that were circulated in the UK and don't tend to be a priority for magazine publishers or readers. The magazine The Economist is an example of the small amount of magazines that will most likely remain a magazine due to its traditional content and that it is a valued magazine by the public.
In 2022, magazines were seen to have accounted for £560.4 million of advertisement spending and magazine media is consumed by 76% of adults in the UK each month. However, consumer spending has decreased due to the fall in magazine popularity, in 2000 it was estimated that consumers spent £1.4 billion but in 2020 it was £669 million. This lead to the closing of a lot of magazines, in 2000 there was reportedly 700 titles across the UK, in 2010 it decreased to 558 and then a further decrease to 241 in 2010.
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