Hearst publishing
Research Hearst publishing by looking at the Hearst UK website and the Wikipedia entry for parent company and conglomerate Hearst Communications.
1) Hearst UK is part of Hearst Communications. What is Hearst Communications and where is it based?
Hearst communications is an American media conglomerate
2) What media industries and brands make up the Hearst Communications conglomerate?
The magazine and newspaper industry, television stations and channels make up Hearst Communications. Some of the brands include: Men's Health, Esquire and Cosmopolitan.
3) What was the global revenue for Hearst Communications (in dollars) for the most recent year on record?
The record for revenue in recent years for HC is $10.8 billion in 2016.
4) Focusing on Hearst UK, what other magazine brands are part of Hearst UK publishing? How many UK people do they reach in print and online?
Some of the brands associates with HC are: Men's Health, Cosmopolitanism, Esquire, 20% of ESPN, Good Housekeeping and Women's Health, to name a few.
Read this Campaign interview with Hearst UK CEO James Wildman.
5) What is James Wildman's plan for Hearst UK?
James plans to focus more on events, that being those of which are associates with respected brands, e.g. Esquire Town House. He also wants to focus on merchandising ranges.
6) What percentage ad decline are consumer magazines facing?
Consumer magazines are facing a decline on advertising by 10%.
7) What Wildman think about premium content and paywalls?
Wildman thinks that Hearst should be charging for the premium content that they provide and clearly is in favour of a paywall, despite this, no paywalls have been implemented.
8) How has Hearst used diversification to grow the business?
Hearst has used diversification to expand into not only print media, but also by hosting a range of event, as well as creating merchandise and products for their brands, e.g. supplements and health fitness orientated products for consumer to use. In addition to this, Hearst has shares in TV stations and channels, which expands their reach and target audience.
Read this Hearst UK press release for their late 2017 ABC figures.
9) Is Men's Health increasing or decreasing in circulation?
Men's Health is overall increasing in circulation.
10) What explanation is provided by Hearst for the success of their magazines in a tough print market?
The CEO of Hearst says that their "trusted print magazines can engage and inspire readers in a way that other media struggles to do. We proudly circulate over four million magazines a month, and I’m thrilled to see such a robust set of numbers."
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?
This is because advertising in magazines has halved from £512m in 2010 to £250m
2) What genre of magazines is currently bucking the trend and increasing sales? Why is this?
Women's lifestyle magazines are going against the grain and are selling more than 5 million copies a month, and have millions of users on social media.
3) In contrast, what magazine genres are struggling? Give examples of magazines that have declined or stopped printing altogether.
Examples of magazines that are struggling are gossip magazines, things like Look; which weekly sales are down by 35% compared to last year , Now; which weekly sales are down by 20.8%, Heat; which weekly sales are down by 16.6% and Grazia; which weekly sales are down by 13.4%
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?
5) What percentage of ad revenue is taken by Google and Facebook?
Facebook and Google take 65% of the ad revenue.
6) What strategies can magazine publishers use to remain in business in the digital age?
They may use a paywall to make added revenue, this makes viewers pay to see the content and is seen as unfair, but is the only way for them to survive.
7) Why does the Hearst UK CEO James Wildman suggest that the magazine industry is not dead?
Wildman suggests that the magazine industry has multiple ways to source revenue from, a main one being events, that of which Wildman held around 100, with tickets selling out for them.
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?
Brand endorsement it a stream of revenue for that of magazine companies, an example of this is DFS selling House Beautiful branded sofas. The MH brand has been used for fitness products as well as their own line of gym equipment.
9) What signs for optimism might there be for traditional magazine brands?
For traditional brands an opotion may be to sell out in order to be under a media conglomerate and make revenue.
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?
MH has remained successful, in my opinion, due tot he fact that a lot of people, young and old, are going to the gym and getting involved in fitness, meaning that they will turn to an iconic brand that is synonymous with fitness, like MH for guidance perhaps. This also means that it can be placed in gyms and waiting rooms for people to read.
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?
There is a similar theme of masculinity and displays a it in the same light as in the print version. That being that it is okay to care about yourself and how you actually are, whilst maintaining the whole fitness aspect about it.
2) What is the Men's Health daily newsletter and what does it include? How does this help Hearst UK to make money?
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?
The menu options are: Home, your summer body, muscle, fitness, nutrition, weight loss, style, watches. These suggest a hyper masculine, classy, successful audience. This is through the options like watches, which wealthier people will focus on more as they are heavily associated with class.
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?
Some of the features include: An in depth look at "The Rocks" shoe, How trainers went luxury, First look Nike's Air Pegasus 35, Why wearing glasses makes you look more intelligent. I think these are aimed at younger audiences as they had to do with how you look and your style, which I think that younger audiences take an interest in more than older audiences.
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 MH is trying to build a reputation for the online version of the magazine, in doing so builds a reputation as a legitimate health website.
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.
The MH twitter feed uses clickbait titles in order to generate a larger viewership, this may have been done to generate more ad revenue. "UK men are poorly-endowed says a global survey, so should be we all be considering penis surgery"
7) How does the Twitter feed uses images and video content alongside text and links?
The tweets will make use of a misleading thumbnail, like a girl where it can be used, but most of the time this is a male with bulging muscles who is most likely photoshopped to look how he is.
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?
This appeal is quite similar to the print magazine as it portrays similar themes of self care and fitness.
9) Is the Men's Health social media designed to sell the print magazine or build a digital audience? Why?
I think that it has been designed to build a digital audience as there is little reference to the magazine as well as the fact that they give tips to their audience so there is a sort of relationship built between the two.
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 MH slightly struggles to communicate with the older half of their audience, perhaps something in the 50s. I think this because for a older MH reader, they may not be worrying about looking good in clothes, and rather be worried about working out etc. Although, I think that they communicate with their younger audience quite well as they use social media effectively
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