Men's Health - Industries case study blog tasks
Hearst publishing
1) Hearst Communications, often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American mass media and business information conglomerate based in New York City, New York.
2) Media industries and brands that make up the Hearst Communications conglomerate are-a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, television channels, and television stations, including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Houston Chronicle, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, 50% of broadcasting firm A&E Networks, and 20% of the sports broadcaster ESPN—the last two both co-owned with The Walt Disney Company. Also, "Hearst UK publishes 21 brands including ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping"
3) The global revenue for Hearst Communications (in dollars) for the most recent year on record is US$ 10.8 billion (2016).
4)"Hearst UK publishes 21 brands including ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping. Our brands reach over one in three UK women and one in four UK men every month, enabling consumers to get more out of life and our trusted content engages them wherever they are. We sell over four million magazines a month and have 17 million UK digital unique users, reaching 22 million fans and followers through our social media platforms including Snapchat Discover."
Campaign interview with Hearst UK CEO James Wildman
5) James Wildman's plan for Hearst UK is "to grow share in print to stem decline, accelerate growth in digital, diversify revenues through events and partnerships, and look at acquisitions. That will be tough when consumer magazines are facing ad declines of more than 10% this year, money is flowing to Google and Facebook, and online influencers are chipping away at print brands."
6) Percentage ad decline are consumer magazines facing- declines of more than 10% this year.
7) Wildman thinks that Hearst should charge for their premium content, but no paywalls are planned yet.
8) Hearst used diversification to grow the business by "Diversification looks the best way to grow. Hearst runs about 100 events a year and he plans to focus on fewer, bigger events such as Esquire Town House. Merchandising deals such as a Country Living range of sofas with DFS have been a money-spinner. Hearst also wants to make more of Good Housekeeping’s respected accreditation team, which tests products. Its endorsements can drive sales for products such as Procter & Gamble’s Olay, which subsequently led to the magazine taking part in a TV ad."
9) Men’s Health is up 1% pop with a combined ABC of 175,683 to retain its position as the number one monthly Men’s Lifestyle magazine.
10) The explanation that is provided by Hearst for the success of their magazines in a tough print market is that "demonstrate how each brand is targeting new readers using innovative routes to market.". " “Our 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. "We continue to build loyal audiences through paid-for channels and our dynamic approach to distribution, both of which deliver strongly to advertisers. We are experts at curating professionally produced content and remain focused on delivering this wherever our audiences are – in print, digital, or at one of our iconic events.”
The impact of digital media on the print magazines industry
1) Traditional print magazines struggling because "With the competition from digital media, vlogs, blogs and podcasts, readers are finding that their thirst for the content covered in the celebrity weeklies can be satisfied elsewhere for free and with ease online." The way some quality newspapers and magazines have been able to survive in recent years is by introducing paywalls on their online content. Also, "warning sign that the shift to digital media is threatening to kill the British love affair with print magazines."
2) The genre of magazines that are currently bucking the trend and increasing sales are;
3) Magazine genres that are struggling:
Look - weekly sales down 35% year on year to 59,390
Now - down 20.8% to 86,838
Closer - down 19.8% to 196,126
Heat - down 16.6% to 120,175
Grazia - down 13.4% to 110,031
Additionally, the NME is has shut down.
4) Stats to show the decline in the print magazines industry between 2010 and 2017:
6) Strategies that magazine publishers can use to remain in business in the digital age are:
7) The Hearst UK CEO James Wildman suggest that the magazine industry is not dead because he says that "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) Examples from the Guardian article are provided to demonstrate how magazines are finding new revenue streams- "Specialist magazines, catering for more niche audiences with interests ranging from shooting to model railways and ponies, are likely to always have a print fanbase.". Men's Health branding is used for "the bestselling premium home gym at Argos is branded after our Men’s Health magazine.".
9)Signs for optimism that might there be for traditional magazine brands “With issues such as fake news, we are seeing the pendulum swing back because of two things: trust and context,” says Wildman. “They are two things that went out of fashion in recent years as media agencies pivoted to buying audiences but weren’t worried about where ads were running. Now we are seeing readers and advertisers leaning back towards trusted brands.”
10) Men's Health fits into this picture because they diversify their content and have loyal customers who value their products, therefore allowing them to be successful in the digital age. This will allow them to publish for several years because they target various audiences with their content.
The Men's Health website and social media
1) Similarities between the website and the print edition of the magazine:
3) The menu options are- 'Home', 'Your Summer Body', 'Workouts', 'Muscle', 'Fitness', 'Nutrition', 'Weight Loss', 'Style', 'Watches'. This suggest that the representation of men and masculinity associated with Men's Health is a hypermasculine representation. This is because their is an emphasis on body image, being strong and muscular. Although, the emphasis on watches and style may promote Metrosexuality as men are placing an emphasis on their appearance.
4) Fitness
The target audience this is aimed at would be men between their mid 20s and mid 40s. This is because they are more likely to take part in activities like this as they are yet still more active than the other older people who read MH.
5) I think the Men's Health website is trying to sell the print version in order to reach a wider audience, this therefore allows them to build a digital audience.
The advantages and disadvantages of a 'digital first' strategy:
Advantages:
Examples of tweets that are designed to get the audience to click through:
1) Hearst Communications, often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American mass media and business information conglomerate based in New York City, New York.
2) Media industries and brands that make up the Hearst Communications conglomerate are-a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, television channels, and television stations, including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Houston Chronicle, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, 50% of broadcasting firm A&E Networks, and 20% of the sports broadcaster ESPN—the last two both co-owned with The Walt Disney Company. Also, "Hearst UK publishes 21 brands including ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping"
3) The global revenue for Hearst Communications (in dollars) for the most recent year on record is US$ 10.8 billion (2016).
4)"Hearst UK publishes 21 brands including ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping. Our brands reach over one in three UK women and one in four UK men every month, enabling consumers to get more out of life and our trusted content engages them wherever they are. We sell over four million magazines a month and have 17 million UK digital unique users, reaching 22 million fans and followers through our social media platforms including Snapchat Discover."
Campaign interview with Hearst UK CEO James Wildman
5) James Wildman's plan for Hearst UK is "to grow share in print to stem decline, accelerate growth in digital, diversify revenues through events and partnerships, and look at acquisitions. That will be tough when consumer magazines are facing ad declines of more than 10% this year, money is flowing to Google and Facebook, and online influencers are chipping away at print brands."
6) Percentage ad decline are consumer magazines facing- declines of more than 10% this year.
7) Wildman thinks that Hearst should charge for their premium content, but no paywalls are planned yet.
8) Hearst used diversification to grow the business by "Diversification looks the best way to grow. Hearst runs about 100 events a year and he plans to focus on fewer, bigger events such as Esquire Town House. Merchandising deals such as a Country Living range of sofas with DFS have been a money-spinner. Hearst also wants to make more of Good Housekeeping’s respected accreditation team, which tests products. Its endorsements can drive sales for products such as Procter & Gamble’s Olay, which subsequently led to the magazine taking part in a TV ad."
9) Men’s Health is up 1% pop with a combined ABC of 175,683 to retain its position as the number one monthly Men’s Lifestyle magazine.
10) The explanation that is provided by Hearst for the success of their magazines in a tough print market is that "demonstrate how each brand is targeting new readers using innovative routes to market.". " “Our 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. "We continue to build loyal audiences through paid-for channels and our dynamic approach to distribution, both of which deliver strongly to advertisers. We are experts at curating professionally produced content and remain focused on delivering this wherever our audiences are – in print, digital, or at one of our iconic events.”
The impact of digital media on the print magazines industry
1) Traditional print magazines struggling because "With the competition from digital media, vlogs, blogs and podcasts, readers are finding that their thirst for the content covered in the celebrity weeklies can be satisfied elsewhere for free and with ease online." The way some quality newspapers and magazines have been able to survive in recent years is by introducing paywalls on their online content. Also, "warning sign that the shift to digital media is threatening to kill the British love affair with print magazines."
2) The genre of magazines that are currently bucking the trend and increasing sales are;
- Prospect - up 37.2% to 44,545
- The Spectator - up 11.3% to 85,429
- Private Eye - up 8.6% year on year to 249,927 per issue
- The Economist - up 5% to 248,196
3) Magazine genres that are struggling:
Also losing sales: Star (down 14.3%) Vanity Fair (10%), Marie Claire (6%), OK! (3.5%) and Vogue (3%).
Additionally, the NME is has shut down.
4) Stats to show the decline in the print magazines industry between 2010 and 2017:
- "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."
- "Similarly, advertising in consumer titles will have more than halved from £512m in 2010 to £250m by the end of this year"
6) Strategies that magazine publishers can use to remain in business in the digital age are:
- Wildman claims that "for magazines to survive they must build a brand beyond the core print publication.". So niche magazines.
- Introducing paywalls to their online content.
7) The Hearst UK CEO James Wildman suggest that the magazine industry is not dead because he says that "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) Examples from the Guardian article are provided to demonstrate how magazines are finding new revenue streams- "Specialist magazines, catering for more niche audiences with interests ranging from shooting to model railways and ponies, are likely to always have a print fanbase.". Men's Health branding is used for "the bestselling premium home gym at Argos is branded after our Men’s Health magazine.".
9)Signs for optimism that might there be for traditional magazine brands “With issues such as fake news, we are seeing the pendulum swing back because of two things: trust and context,” says Wildman. “They are two things that went out of fashion in recent years as media agencies pivoted to buying audiences but weren’t worried about where ads were running. Now we are seeing readers and advertisers leaning back towards trusted brands.”
10) Men's Health fits into this picture because they diversify their content and have loyal customers who value their products, therefore allowing them to be successful in the digital age. This will allow them to publish for several years because they target various audiences with their content.
The Men's Health website and social media
1) Similarities between the website and the print edition of the magazine:
- The pose of the images- all of the men show their physique/muscular bodies.
- The types of articles- watches, food etc.
3) The menu options are- 'Home', 'Your Summer Body', 'Workouts', 'Muscle', 'Fitness', 'Nutrition', 'Weight Loss', 'Style', 'Watches'. This suggest that the representation of men and masculinity associated with Men's Health is a hypermasculine representation. This is because their is an emphasis on body image, being strong and muscular. Although, the emphasis on watches and style may promote Metrosexuality as men are placing an emphasis on their appearance.
4) Fitness
- Adventure
- Sports training
- Rugby
- Cycling
- Running
- Injuries
- MH Adventure
The target audience this is aimed at would be men between their mid 20s and mid 40s. This is because they are more likely to take part in activities like this as they are yet still more active than the other older people who read MH.
5) I think the Men's Health website is trying to sell the print version in order to reach a wider audience, this therefore allows them to build a digital audience.
The advantages and disadvantages of a 'digital first' strategy:
Advantages:
- they will diversify their audience creating a larger range of consumer intake - this may lead to more consumers of their print publications.
- increase the amount of revenue they achieve
- easier to access
- saves time
- Men's Health may rake up more digital consumers rather than consumers of their print publications which may put their magazine at risk and revenue into decline.
- no notice of the campaign
Examples of tweets that are designed to get the audience to click through:
- Men's HealthVerified account @MensHealthUK 5 minutes ago These 6 diet mistakes are keeping you fat http://bit.ly/2JnMxxk
- Men's HealthVerified account @MensHealthUK 36 minutes agoThe bicep workout that will get your sleeves bulging http://bit.ly/2JsbJmn
7) The Twitter feed uses images and video content alongside text and links by having an image of the topic and a link to how you do it. This is used as audiences engage more with images, especially if it's what they are looking for. By seeing an image they are motivated and challenged by the person who is in the image. Also, the text is something they make a reference to.
8)The Men's Health Instagram suggest that the Men's Health brand is about unity. This is because they have used people with different backgrounds and ages. This is appealing to the audiences because it gives them a place to belong. This ties in with the Uses and Gratifications theory of Personal Relationship as it allows them to connect with others and achieve a goal. Furthermore, it also promotes the ideology of being physically and mentally strong/powerful, by using well-known celebrities and motivational quotes.
9) It can be argued that the Men's Health social media is designed to sell the print magazine because it reaches a wider audience. However, it could also have been designed to build a digital audience because the millennials are the ones who are constantly using social media and we are at that time period where technology has taken over. So in order to stay in business they have to diversify and change with time.
10) In my opinion, I believe that Men's Health is a successful brand because it caters for both print and online users, which does have an advantageous impact on their business. This is because it increases the target audience, meaning that the readership figures will increase and as a result they will make more revenue. Additionally, their online platform content mirrors from what it has in the print copy. Therefore, it successfully communicates with its target audiences as they see the same values. Moreover, I believe that the digital platforms eventually replace the print magazine, however maybe not completely. This is because of the fact that as the digital age is becoming more recognised and popular, more people are taking interest in using it as it essentially make things easier to access and quicker to access. But it can be argued that people who are loyal to the brands they want to be, such as MH readers, may still prefer the print copy as some of the target audience are people who are traditional.
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