Magazines: Industries & Men's Health

Men's Health - Industries case study blog tasks

Hearst publishing

1) Hearst UK is part of Hearst Communications. What is Hearst Communications and where is it based?

• Hearst communications is a media conglomerate(parent company)   based in New York

2) What media industries and brands make up the Hearst Communications conglomerate?

• Hearst is made up of newspapers, magazines, television channels and stations etc... it has other companies within its conglomerate also 

3) What was the global revenue for Hearst Communications (in dollars) for the most recent year on record?

• $10.8 billion

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?

• Men's Health, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping etc.
• 25% reach men 
• 30% reach women
• 17 million reach digital users 

5) What is James Wildman's plan for Hearst UK?

• james wildman's plan for hearst UK  is to increase the events and the companies partnerships aswell as use the advantage of the digital age by using influencers to create a more diverse promotion approach 

6) What percentage ad decline are consumer magazines facing?

• more than 10%

7) What Wildman think about premium content and paywalls?

• wildman belives that premium content should be profit-oriented 
• paywalls haven't been planned as of yet 

8) How has Hearst used diversification to grow the business?

• hearst has used diversification to grow the business by putting up around 100 events a year but wildman wishes to focus on fewer events 
• hearst has also has used merchandise as a form diversification also an example would be the country living sofa range  

Read this Hearst UK press release for their late 2018 ABC figures.

9) Is Men's Health increasing or decreasing in circulation?

• though only by 0.51% mens health is increasing in circulation 

10) What does the press release say about recent successes associated with Men's Health?

•  the press suggests that the mens health #MendTheGap campaign has continued to help readdress the disparity between attitudes toward mental and physical health.
• aswell as  its range of home gym equipment is the best-selling premium gym range in Argos.

The impact of digital media on the print magazines industry

1) Why are traditional print magazines struggling?

• due to the rise of internet use over the past decade and the creation of the digital age  traditional print magazine has been declining ass more and more readers are finding their content online 

2) What genre of magazines is currently bucking the trend and increasing sales? Why is this?

• news and current affair genre magazines are increasing as they are informative pieces of media texts 

3) In contrast, what magazine genres are struggling? Give examples of magazines that have declined or stopped printing altogether.

• Celebrity, fashion  publications are struggling.
• Cosmopolitan,Vanity Fair and Marie Claire are all examples of this specific struggling genre 

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 
• readers that buy or subscribe fell by 42% from 23.8m to 13.9m between 2010 and 2017.
• Since the digital age  the decline is 55% from 30.8m

5) What percentage of ad revenue is taken by Google and Facebook?

• Google and Facebook account for 65% of the $6.5bn 

6) What strategies can magazine publishers use to remain in business in the digital age?

• in order to remain in business diversification is the best way for  magazine publishers in the digital age 

7) Why does the Hearst UK CEO James Wildman suggest that the magazine industry is not dead?

• "We sell nearly 5m a month, that’s hardly dead, and we have 20 million unique UK users online a month, and more than double that on social media."

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?

•  mens health doesn't only sell print magazines but they also promote their good quality gym equipment as a revenue stream 

9) What signs for optimism might there be for traditional magazine brands?

• traditional magazines have the advantage of the belief that not everything on the internet is true and therefore the magazines have the advantage of being 100% true 

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?

• mens health has social media which therefore has allowed them to remain successful they also have a successful merchandise line which allows readers to engage with the brand and for the brand to adapt to new media platforms 

The Men's Health website and social media

1) What similarities do you notice between the website and the print edition of the magazine?

• the colour schemes are similar aswell as the font.

2) What is the Men's Health daily newsletter and what does it include? How does this help Hearst UK to make money?

• The Men's Health daily newsletter offers health news, weight loss tips aswell as workouts and its emailed to the customers inbox 
•  this benefits hearst UK as they make money through the costumer being recommended about their products and services as well as getting  discounts and offers

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:

• fitness
• mental strength
• style
• nutrition 
• workouts 

this suggests that the brand is very traditionally masculine and has very static brand values

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?

• the section of style takes the reader to a range of different articles and how-to's on how to style yourself to fit in with the recent trends 
• this is aimed to a target audience of men who enjoy maintain a trendy style 

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 is trying to build a print audience however there are many disadvantages such as the reduction in the amount of attention spent on original print and eventually leading to that sector going out of business 

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 Men's Health Twitter feed offers tips and discounts for customers and when clicked on the consumer is directed straight to the website 
• an example would be "People who smoke weed before or after the gym spend more time working out, according to a new study"

7) How does the Twitter feed uses images and video content alongside text and links?

• the feed uses images of celebrities doing activities such as weightlifting and exercise to promote their content aswell as make the readers create aspirational goals and click on their content 

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?

• the page features men both famous and not ,doing various lifestyle activities which is appealing to other men as they see these men as aspirational goals and therefore have the gratification of personal identity 

9) Is the Men's Health social media designed to sell the print magazine or build a digital audience? Why?

• its designed to do both but more so build a digital audience as it reaches those across the world that dont have access to mens health but do have social media 

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 the brand successfully communicates with its target audience as it promotes all it brand values successfully with branching out into different media platforms such as online which could possibly lead to the replacement of the print magazine as the digital age is at its most powerful yet