The great variety of magazines means that readers’ needs can be met

This wide range of needs, by subject matter and by Henley-style categories, creates a demand which magazines can meet because there is such a variety of them. And it is a growing variety. The increasing number of consumer magazines not only declares a very healthy market but is also a visible sign of increasing fragmentation. Each subject area tends to be broken down by magazines focusing on more and more specialist areas within it, and thus striking an increasingly personal link with those readers who are especially interested in a given subsector. Judie Lannon vividly described this process at a PPA seminar as “mass marketing becoming mass customisation” [3].

With so many different types of magazine fulfilling different needs, the Henley Centre made the point that “the fulfilment of these needs is not just a function of the content delivered in the magazine, it can also be a function of the values and associations of the magazine brand and of the physical qualities of the magazine. For example, a glossy woman’s monthly delivers much more than content on style and fashion. It may also represent any of the following: an association with the magazine brand, a self indulgent treat, time to oneself, escapism, and so on” [2].

The Henley Centre devised a chart to represent the degree to which each of a dozen categories of magazine satisfied the nine media needs already described.

Note that no magazines fulfil the 'Default' function. No-one reads a magazine because it is already 'on' - magazines are only read when someone makes a deliberate personal choice.

This chart underlines a vital point in a simple way: different kinds of magazine fulfil different needs and therefore work in different ways. The implication is that the readers who choose a given type of magazine find that they develop a relationship with it.