1) Hearst UK is part of Hearst Communications. What is Hearst Communications and where is it based?
Hearst communications is a large media and business information conglomerate located in Manhattan new York
2) What media industries and brands make up the Hearst Communications conglomerate?
Hearst communications own a large variety of newspapers, magazines, broadcasting companies and internet providers. Some of the brands hearst communications own include Men's Health, cosmopolitan, Food Network Magazine, House Beautiful, Seventeen, ESPN, eCrush, Kaboodle etc.
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?
Some brands include Bicycling, Elle Decor, Nat Mags, Womens Day, Womens Health. Hearst Communications reaches 30% of all women, 25% of men and sell roughly 4 Million copies monthly with roughly 17 million users digital readers in the UK.
Read this Campaign interview with Hearst UK CEO James Wildman.
5) What is James Wildman's plan for Hearst UK?
James Wildman's plan for Hearst UK is to increase marketshare, Accelerate digital growth and to diversify their revenue to events and partnerships and to also consider acquisitions
6) What percentage ad decline are consumer magazines facing?
10% decline.
7) What Wildman think about premium content and paywalls?
Wildman believes that hearst Communications should charge for premium content, but as of right now they have no plans of setting up paywalls.
8) How has Hearst used diversification to grow the business?
Hearst want to create more events on a yearly basis, they also want to create more merchandise deals with advertisers.
Read this Hearst UK press release for their late 2017 ABC figures.
9) Is Men's Health increasing or decreasing in circulation?
The circulation is increasing.
10) What explanation is provided by Hearst for the success of their magazines in a tough print market?
Hearsts distribution methods are effective, they place their products in places where they are most likely to be read.
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?
The introduction of the internet weakened the magazine industry
2) What genre of magazines is currently bucking the trend and increasing sales? Why is this?
In recent times the political magazine industry has become more popular due to the rise of fake news, the public want to have a reliable source of news to understand whats going on.
3) In contrast, what magazine genres are struggling? Give examples of magazines that have declined or stopped printing altogether.
Celebrity, gossip, music genres have began losing sales e.g.
Now - 21% 87,000
Look - 35%
Closer - 20% 200,000
Grazia 13% 110,00
Heat - 17% 120,000
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?
Uk print titles subscribers fell by 42% from 23.8 Million to 13.9 Million.
5) What percentage of ad revenue is taken by Google and Facebook?
65%
6) What strategies can magazine publishers use to remain in business in the digital age?
The guardian suggested that they begin to create and publish magazines for more niche audiences and to introduce paywalls.
7) Why does the Hearst UK CEO James Wildman suggest that the magazine industry is not dead?
He states that the magazine industry is diverse, and that Hearst Communications have events for their magazines.
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?
Men's Health create niche magazines that attract fan bases.
9) What signs for optimism might there be for traditional magazine brands?
With the recent issue of fake news, audiences are now looking for brands that they can trust.
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 do believe that Men's health has remained successful in the digital age, they have diverse content that helps attract a loyal fan base, with how they're doing right now, I do believe that they have the ability to continue publishing for years to come.
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?
Both their print and digital magazines contain paid promotions, both mediums also contain the same type of content. Within both mediums, Men's Health still focuses on portraying physically fit celebrities as their main selling point.
2) What is the Men's Health daily newsletter and what does it include? How does this help Hearst UK to make money?
Men's Health daily newsletter provides its viewers with daily tips on physical fitness, along with this the newsletter also contains product placements that their audience may have already seen, incentivizing more purchases. The Men's Health daily newsletter makes Hearst UK money through advertisements and conversions.
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?
All the menu options are heavily focused on the physical appearance of men, this shows that Men's Health still represents masculinity in a very hegemonic way e.g. Muscle, Workouts, style and watches are all menu options while there is not any mentions of any psychological or emotional advice or guidance.
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?
Under the watches menu, there are two articles that show budget watches for their audience along with three articles recommending long lasting watches, this shows that Men's Health watches may be more middle class as these articles are recommending what watches are most worth it for the price, and are also recommending budget watches.
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 believe that Men's Health is trying to build a more digital audience instead of trying to sell more print magazines. The main advantage of doing so is that through building a more established website, Men's Health is making their content far more accessible to a bigger audience, this allows Men's Health to garner a more concurrent viewership, this higher viewership allows Men's Health to make more money through adverting. There are two disadvantages although, one being that they are sabotaging their own print products, making them less wanted, and second, Google takes a large cut out of the profit.
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.
Some of Men's Health's tweets uses eye catching images that are an incentive to click on the article e.g." 10 exercises you need to get single-digit body fat" .
7) How does the Twitter feed uses images and video content alongside text and links?
The twitter feed uses eye catching images and video to attract new and old audiences towards their website, next to the website or image, Men's Health has the link of the article beside it in the caption, this allows easy access for the audience.
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?
Instagram is an image based social media, Men's Health has taken advantage of this and use it to catch the eyes of new and old audiences. While I do believe that this has been done to attract a younger audience, I think due to the similarity of having a eye catchy image can appeal to a similar audience to the print version of the magazine.
9) Is the Men's Health social media designed to sell the print magazine or build a digital audience? Why?
I believe that their social media is designed to build a digital audience; each of their posts on Instagram direct their audience towards their website, they also very rarely promote their magazine on their 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?
Men's Health brand online has proven to be quite successful, due to this success I do believe that they have managed to successfully communicate with their target audience. If this success is to continue, they will replace their print magazines in the future
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