Consumer Magazines – A Review of Some Popular Magazines

A magazine is a printed periodical magazine that is published in either matte or gloss paper. Magazines are usually published monthly on a commercial basis and comprise a diverse range of topics. They can be published to cater to the needs of a specific segment of the society or to suit the needs of the general public. Generally they are financed either by subscription, by an ad cost, or by both the above. In some countries, like the U.K., where there is a legal provision for free access to certain publications, there are also magazines which are published and distributed without any payment. But in most countries, magazine is only available for a fee.

There are different magazines in the market depending upon the extent of coverage and distribution. If the distribution is very limited, like in a newspaper, magazine would be of little importance, as the reach is quite limited. But in case the circulation is fairly widespread, like in a billboard, magazine has greater influence and hence has great significance. Since the magazine has a broad range of audience, it needs to have wide range of distribution.

There is a need for a magazine owner or a magazine publisher to have contacts with a good advertising agency, which handles all kinds of magazine, not only medical but also lifestyle, home, beauty etc. This helps in managing magazine expenses. The advertising director, who is also the circulation director of every magazine, keeps track of various costs incurred on the magazine by its readers and by the magazine owner. This is the role of the circulation department in each magazine.

Many print magazines also have online access facility which allows the users to download magazine content for a nominal fee. This form of access is very popular among students and young professionals. They can easily download articles and news from the Internet and can access the magazine at their convenience. This is another advantage of print magazines over online magazines that contributes to their huge circulation figures.

Every major business organization has a magazine of its own and one can find all kinds of information, product specifications, advertisements and interviews in any of these periodicals. All the information is published in a form of a magazine and they are available on the internet. Online periodicals are very popular and are used by the people in large numbers, who do not have time to read a single page of a printed magazine. In the case of all the print magazines, the circulation is pretty limited and so is the price. So, they can afford to buy online only.

Initially periodicals were meant to be just a piece of paper, which can be read by anyone. But as time moved there were many ways to make these periodicals available to the public. Initially the price of every magazine was very high as there was scarcity of paper and ink, so there was no real demand for them. But now as the world has become a global market place, with a number of international and local magazines having been published every year, the consumer magazine has emerged as a prominent tool for marketing and advertising.