The reader relationship

In this section

1. People have a variety of interests and needs
2. Great variety of magazines means readers’ needs are met
3. Four ways in which magazines deliver engagement
     Trust: a friend and advocate
     Support: help in managing our lives
     Status: our sense of position, belonging & confidence
     Participation: a bridge to interactivity
4. The drivers of magazine reading 
5. Different types of magazine work in different ways
6. The personal character of individual titles
7. Close relationship between readers and chosen magazines
     Magazines as brands
     Selecting a magazine that expresses one’s own self
     Examples of close relationships
     Weak relationship: newspaper colour supplements/sections
     Evolution: keeping the relationship fresh
8. The ‘magazine moment’
9. Matching the magazine to the mood
     The reader’s repertoire of magazines
     Selecting from the repertoire to match the mood
     Selecting within an individual magazine to match the mood
10. The physical aspects of handling magazines
      How copies are obtained
      Time spent reading
      Proportion of issue read
      Similar patterns in other countries
11. Repeat reading
      Page EXposures (PEX)
12. Readership accumulation through time

Summary

• The magazine medium’s essential strength lies in the active way in which readers choose and use their magazines. Magazines are an active medium, with the reader in control.
• Since different categories of magazine fulfil different needs they work in different ways, which are well adapted to their readers’ requirements. Similarly, within categories there are vital distinctions of character between individual titles, giving each title its own unique positioning.
• Readers become deeply engaged with their magazines. As a result a strong relationship, a bond of trust, grows up between the reader and his or her chosen magazines. Reading a favourite magazine is like talking with a friend.
• A reader’s identification with an engaging magazine can go well beyond the simple provision of information and ideas. When a magazine strikes a chord it can reinforce the reader’s own self-image. This creates a particularly powerful and trusting relationship.
• Readers give commitment to their magazines. The time spent reading is substantial, and the copies are read thoroughly. Copies tend to be read repeatedly, often picked up more than once during a day and on more than one day. More than 90% of all pages are opened by the typical reader. The average page in a paid-for magazine is looked at 2.5 times by each reader.
• Readers have their own repertoire of magazines to meet different needs and moods. Matching the mood and the magazine reinforces the values of the personal relationship and ensures that reading takes place in a highly receptive frame of mind.