Characteristics and Types of Magazines

Magazines are a type of print media and a very popular

part at that. Now, who doesnt read or know about
magazines? There may be no man alive in todays world
that has neither seen nor read a magazine. In fact, most
of us have a favourite magazine or two.
But have we ever wondered what a magazine is? What,
never? Well, this module will provide the answers to
everything there is to know about characteristics and
types of magazines
It also has information on the history of magazines.
Definition of magazines:
Apart from being regularly published storehouses of
information, magazines, also called periodicals, serials,
glossies or slicks, are publications that appear on a
regular interval and contain a variety of content or
articles.
Magazines fall under the category of print mass media.
Other types of print media are newspapers and books.
Print media has had an interesting journey and
magazines, even more so. Here is a detailed look at the
topic:
History of magazines:
The English word magazine is derived from the Arabic
word makhazin that meant military storehouse of war
materiel.
The word Magazine was coined for use by Edward Cave,
editor of The Gentleman's Magazine.
Before magazines started in England, articles were being
published in periodical format in England since the turn of

the eighteenth century. Daniel Defoe started the first

English magazine, The Review, in 1704 during or just
after his imprisonment for criticizing the Church of
England. His purpose was to offer his comment, criticism
and satire to influence public taste.
The form of the Review set the form for British
magazines. Joseph Addison, a well known social critic,
followed its example by writing essays for his friend
Richard Steeles magazine Tatler. Addison also created
The Spectator, the most famous of the early British
journals. It looked just like newspapers.
In 1731, Edward Cave published the first issue of The
Gentlemans Magazine, the first periodical to feature a
mix of informative and entertaining genres, and the first
to call itself a magazine.
Ten years later, the first magazines in the American
colonies appeared, following the British formats,
published by Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Bradford.
In the nineteenth century, increased literacy, a larger
middle class, and expansion led to a greater demand for
magazines that could transmit information to the frontier.
Improved techniques in paper manufacturing and printing
machinery, including colour printing, beginning in the
1860s, lowered production costs. As a result, the number
of magazines boomed, and the highest magazine
circulations climbed from 40,000 before the Civil War to
100,000 by the end of the century.
Ads slowly began to be integrated into the same pages as
articles in the 1890s. By the 1910s, stories and articles
were interspersed with ads, now printed in four colours,
and split across separate pages to create the look of the
modern magazine form were familiar with.

Heres a look at magazines journey across the

world in a nut shell:
Timeline

1663: The world's first magazine Erbauliche

Monaths-Unterredungen (translation: Edifying
Monthly Discussions) is published in Germany.
1731: The
first
modern
general-interest
magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine, is published in
England as entertainment with essays, stories,
poems and political commentary.
1739: The Scots Magazine begins and today remains
the oldest consumer magazine in print.
1741 Benjamin Franklin intends to publish America's
first magazine, General Magazine.
1770: The first women's magazine, The Lady's
Magazine, starts with literary and fashion content
plus embroidery patterns.
1843: The
Economist begins
examining
politics, business, science and the arts.

news,

1857: The Atlantic magazine arrives.

1895: Collier's weekly
published until 1957.

magazine

starts

and

is

1896: The first pulp fiction magazines are printed on

cheap wood pulp paper with ragged untrimmed
edges.

1897: The old Saturday Evening Post is revived by

Cyrus Curtis to become the most widely circulated
weekly magazine.
1899: National Geographic appears.
1912: Photoplay is the first magazine for movie
fans.
1922: Reader's Digest begins publishing.
1923: Time, the first U.S. newsmagazine, is started
by Henry Luce.

1925: New Yorker magazine arrives.

1933: Newsweek begins publication.

1933: Esquire is the first men's magazine.

1936: Life, a weekly photojournalism

magazine, is started by Henry Luce

news

1937: Look, a bi-weekly, general-interest and

photojournalism magazine, starts and continues to
1971.
1944: Seventeen is the first magazine devoted to
adolescents.
1953: TV Guide starts.
1953: Playboy opens with Marilyn Monroe on the
cover.
1954: Sports Illustrated is
magazine owner Henry Luce.

started

by

Time

1967: Rolling Stone demonstrates the popularity of

special-interest magazines.
1967: New York magazine appears as a regional
magazine.
1972:
Feminist
out Ms. magazine

Gloria

Steinem

brings

1974: People debuts with Mia Farrow on the cover

1990: Entertainment Weekly starts

1993: Wired magazine arrives with a

curiosity about everything under the Sun

voracious

Thats a lot of history. But the module wouldnt be doing

full service to the topic unless some information on
magazines in India is also included.
History of magazines in India:
The 1980s saw a boom in the publication of magazines in
India, not only in English but in the major Indian
languages as well.
The magazine boom was set off by the launch of India
Today in the mid seventies, and the new look Illustrated
Weekly of India under the editorship of Khushwant Singh.
Its inspiration, right from its red- border cover page to its
mode of gathering and editing and packaging news, was
very Time- International inspired.
Other magazines to be launched in quick succession in
the early 1990s were Gentleman, Gentleman Fashion
Quarterly, Onlooker, New Delhi, Bombay, The Week, G
and a few others.

Several new film magazines and computer magazines

also took off at the same time. The new magazines
introduced colour, gloss and a snazzy style of reporting
which personalised and dramatised issues and events.
Photographs, illustrations, charts and graphs enlivened
each page and the focus was on soft features. They were
also published on glossy paper with a glamorous look.
This especially attracted advertisers.
The boom continued into the 1990s despite the packing
up of long-established magazines like the Illustrated
Weekly of India, Sunday and Bombay.
The growth was spectacular in the case of general
interest magazines, especially those dealing with
business and finance, computers and electronics, fashion
and lifestyle. Several special interest periodicals were
launched in 1993, like Parenting, Young Mother, Auto
India. Eating Out, Golfingly Yours, Dost, TV Today etc
were also launched.
The magazine boom almost went bust by the close of the
millennium but picked up again around 2006, when as
many as 2,600 magazines were registered with the
Registrar of Newspapers for India. Magazine advertising
was also growing faster as per the Association of Indian
Magazines.
However, readership surveys showed that the picture
was not so bright after all. They revealed that there was
a decline in magazine reading. This may very well be
because of the many supplements and pull outs that
became part of the daily and Sunday newspapers. Also,
newspapers were gradually taking on the look and
function of general interest magazines with supplements

or pages on health, environment, beauty, films and

information technology.
Nearly four out of every five Indian magazines today are
in the Indian languages. Hindi alone has more than 3000
periodicals or magazines, followed by English with over
2,670. Periodicals in Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Bengali,
Marathi Urdu, and Telugu too enjoy a robust circulation
and readership.
Types or Genres of Magazines:
Most magazines look more or less the same at first
glance, but there are differences within this broad
category.
Basically, magazines fall into two broad categories:
consumer magazines and business magazines. Magazines
can also be classified as:

General interest magazines (e.g. Frontline,

Today, The Week, The Sunday Times etc.)

India

Basic characteristics of general interest magazines

such as the Newsweek, are:

They are intended for a general audience. One

doesnt need any special knowledge or skills to
understand the articles in the magazine. One just
needs to be able to read at a basic level.
Their main purpose is to provide information for an
educated, but non-specialist audience, of interested
lay readers. No background knowledge or expertise
is assumed.

Articles usually provide a broad coverage of topics of

current interest.
Articles are written by journalists, freelance writers
or staff of the magazine who have training as
journalists, but may not have specialized training in
the subject they are writing about. For example, a
journalist can write about a biochemistry topic or a
complex economic theory without any degrees in
chemistry or economics.
Publications are usually published by commercial
enterprises, though some are published by
professional organizations.

Special interest magazines (women's, sports,

business, scuba diving, etc.), on the other hand, are
magazines who serve readers who want to know more
about a subject like , say, playing golf.
Different types of magazines target different audiences
and are typically published weekly, biweekly, monthly,
bimonthly or quarterly. They target different audiences
like:
1. Consumer: These magazines target general reading
audiences with special interests. For instance, there are
consumer magazines that cover homes, sports, news,
fashion, teen gossip, and many more groups of readers.
Examples include AARP The Magazine, Reader's Digest,
Better Homes & Gardens, National Geographic, People,
Time, TV Guide, Sports Illustrated, Cosmopolitan,
Playboy, Redbook, Parents, Seventeen, ESPN Magazine,
Money, Men's health, In Style, and thousands more.

2. Trade and Professional magazines: Target people

working in trades, businesses and professional fields.
Newsweeklies for media professionals like Editor &
Publisher, Folio, Broadcasting & Cable, PR Week,
Advertising Age, Publishers Weekly, Variety, Billboard;
and thousands of other magazines such as National
Fisherman, Construction Today, Investment Week,
Beverage Industry, Candy Industry, Dairy Foods,
Restaurant Magazine and others fall under this category.
3.House Organ: Also known as in-house magazines, inhouse publications and house journals, these periodicals
are
published
by
for-profit
and
not-for-profit
organizations such as companies and special interest
groups for their customers, employees, clients and
members.
Examples include UNCP Today for university alumni,
Avalon Hill General about Avalon Hill games, Friends
magazine of Chevrolet Dealers and the numerous
magazines published by airlines.
4. Business magazines: Business magazines like
Business India, Business World, Business Today and
Outlook Business are of special interest to the corporate
world, to business and finance professionals.
5. Newsmagazines: A news magazine is a typed,
printed, and published piece of magazine featuring
articles on current events.
The trend of magazines doing so started as back as the
beginning of World War I. As we have already seen,
Henry Luce started the first newsmagazine called Time. It

was four years before Time saw a profit, but once it got
rolling, it moved on to make magazine history.
This started the trend of newsmagazines and we have
countless magazines doing the same in India like Open.
By 2002, a trend was seen in newsmagazines to move
away from hard news and shift their focus toward more
soft stories since the hard news was already being
covered comprehensively by newspapers and news
channels.
6. Womens Magazines: Womens magazines represent
the largest and most financially successful magazine
category. Advertisers are fond of these publications
because they target the segment of the population that
buys the most consumer products.
One of the longest published womens magazine is
Ladies Home Journal. It first appeared on February 16,
1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's
magazines of the 20th century in the United States.
The Journal, along with its major rivals, were long known
as the "seven sisters" and included Better Homes &
Gardens, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, Ladies
Home Journal, McCalls, Redbook, and Womans Day.
One of the currently popular womens magazines today,
Cosmopolitan, started out as a general interest
magazine, even featuring many noteworthy investigative
journalism pieces. However, when TV came along and
spelled the demise of most of the general interest
magazines, Cosmo had a new birth as a magazine for
young woman with an interest in men, sex, and personal
success.

7. Mens Magazines: The first major glossy mens

magazine was Esquire, which was founded in 1933.
Esquire featured pinups and impressive literary features.
In 1953, Hugh Hefner, who was originally on the staff of
Esquire, founded Playboy. The first edition contained
nude photos of Marilyn Monroebefore she became
something of a superstar. Hefner didnt put a date on the
magazine because he didnt know if there would ever be
a second edition. However, it sold out as soon as it hit
the newsstands. Subscriptions to Playboy soon surpassed
those of Esquire.
8. Highbrow Magazines: Magazines such as Harpers,
The New Yorker and Atlantic appeal to the so-called
intelligentsia. These magazines, which date back to the
1850s, typically go into depth on cultural and political
issues. But, they have a limited audience, and, as a
result, they have had a hard time surviving. At the same
time, their influence among selected audiences can be
significant.
Television TV news channels such as MSNBC and Fox
News have in large measure taken over as sources of
information for the liberal and conservative viewpoints,
putting these magazines at serious disadvantage.
9. Trade Publications: The trades are limited
circulation magazines designed to serve professionals
working in specialized areas.
Some, especially those that derive most of their income
from paid subscriptions, serve their professions with
timely, accurate, and unbiased articles.

Characteristics
magazines:

of

some

prominent

types

of

a. Trade and professional magazines:

These periodicals provide news, information and how-to
articles for readers working in specific industries with
advertising content focused on those industries or trades
including job notices.
These magazines depend heavily on advertising for their
survival and thus their main characteristic is that they
may feature reviews of products and services that are
simply puff pieces designed to support the views of
advertisers. Rather than present objective articles, these
publications carefully avoid anything that would hurt their
advertisers and do little more than expand on the
concepts put forth in their paid advertising.
It happens often that a trade publication with a large ad
for a product also features a positive article on the same
product.
b. Newsmagazines:
News magazines generally go more in-depth into stories
than newspapers or television news, trying to give the
reader an understanding of the important events, rather
than just the facts.
They focus more on opinion and commentary rather than
just facts. This is their most important characteristic.
Each important news magazine has a distinct style of
reporting and writing and it is this which keeps drawing
in their target readers.

The worlds first news magazine, Time established a

distinct style of reporting and writing and the term
timespeak was coined to cover the magazines cut-tothe-chase,
sometimes
irreverent,
but
always
authoritative approach.
Similarly, each newsmagazine has a writing and reporting
style of its own, which defines it and makes it iconic.
c. Womens magazines:
Most womens magazines are positioned as having a
marginal role in the public domain. Womens magazines
are also generally not associated with the forms of
journalism which bring citizens information of crucial
democratic importance.
Editorially, this genre of magazines focuses on family
structures and womens role in society. For example,
some popular womens magazines of today which reach
much younger female readers such as Cosmopolitan,
Seventeen, and YM, share the characteristic of focusing
on fashion, family, sex, lifestyle, diet, fitness etc.
d. Mens magazines:
They are niche magazines for men as a general audience.
Most magazines in this genre share the characteristic of
focusing on specific hobbies and DIY projects.
Topic wise most popular mens magazines like Popular
Science and Field & Stream focus on science and
technology.
Not all dwell on sex, of course; there are numerous
magazines devoted to cars, motorcycles and computers
that have large male readerships.

Even Playboy developed a history of publishing short

stories by such notable writers as Arthur C. Clarke, Ian
Fleming, Vladimir Nabokov, and Margaret Atwood.
e. High Brow magazines:
These focus on the cultural and intellectual elites and
provide more in- depth debate than the daily newspapers
can, freed from the tyranny of daily deadlines and the
insistence of topicality.
Distribution of Magazines:
Magazines can be distributed through the mail; through
sales at newsstands, bookstores or other vendors; and
through a variety of free distribution methods including
making them available at selected pick-up locations.
There

are

three

main

means

of

circulation:

Paid circulation: The magazine is sold to readers for a

price, either on a per-issue basis or by subscription,
where an annual fee is paid and issues are sent by mail
to
readers
Free circulation: There is no cover price and issues are
given
away.
Controlled
circulation: Usually
industry-based
publications are distributed only to qualifying readers,
often for free. This ploy was widely used before the rise
of the World Wide Web and is still employed by some
titles.
Ownership of magazines in India:

Print media is seeing a high concentration of ownership

or monopolies amongst the political and economic elite.
So we have industrial houses that own and publish a
number of newspapers and magazines such as womens
magazines, childrens periodicals, business weeklies,
science journals and even comics.
The Times of India group or the Bennet Coleman and
Company Ltd, Indias biggest media house has a
newspaper , Times of India and it has teamed up with
BBC to publish the latters magazines, like Readers
Digest in India. Living Media, the publisher of magazine
India Today, also publishes a host of American/ European
magazines, such as Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Mens Health.
Future of magazines:
In the past couple of years, weve seen some of the most
culturally significant magazines release digital archives in
one form or another. In 2008, LIFE partnered with
Google to release one of the worlds largest and richest
photographic archives. Recently, Popular Science made
137 years of its archives available online. And every issue
of SPIN magazine is available on Google Books.
With the advancements in digital media, magazines are
staring at a bleak future indeed. However, according to
analysts up-market magazines in India (i.e. those that
cost Rs. 100 or so per copy) are finding it easier to
survive than those that cost less and aim for a wider
circulation.
So, maybe the future for magazines is niche and upmarket, not widely circulated and general interest. But if

India does go the way of the West in the structure of its

magazine sector, then we will feel a great personal sense
of loss because the journalistic revolution in India came
not from newspapers, TV or the internet, it came from
the magazine sector. If it wasnt for magazines, Indian
journalism would never ever have come of age.