Sunday, 23 June 2019

Men's Health: Industries

What is Hearst Communications and where is it based?

  • American mass media conglomerate and it's based in New York City.

What media industries and brands make up the Hearst Communications conglomerate?

  • Newspapers, the Internet, magazines etc. Brands such as Men's Health, Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar and Good Housekeeping are to name but a few brands that make up the conglomerate. 

What was the global revenue for Hearst Communications (in dollars) for the most recent year on record?

  • $10.8Billion. 
Focusing on Hearst UK, what other magazine brands are part of Hearst UK publishing? How many UK people do they reach in print and online?

  • Men's Health, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Inside Soap etc. They reach around 30% of UK women and 25% of UK men, with a digital reach of around 17 million unique users. 
What is James Wildman's plan for Hearst UK?

  • Wildman's plan for Hearst UK is to increase events and partnerships and work through influencers to appeal to more diverse, and brand specific audiences. 
What percentage ad decline are consumer magazines facing?

  • More than 10%.
What Wildman think about premium content and paywalls?

  • He thinks that premium content should be commercialised and that paywalls haven't been planned yet despite his beliefs. 
How has Hearst used diversification to grow the business?

  • Heart has used diversification to grow the business, through running around 100 events a year, Wildman plans to focus on the bigger events such as Esquire's Town House and Merchandising deals with ranges such as Country Living with DFS or endorsements with grooming/beauty brands such as Olay to help generate revenue from external sources. 
Is Men's Health increasing or decreasing in circulation?

  • Men's Health is increasing in circulation - but only by a minute amount [0.51%]
What does the press release say about recent successes associated with Men's Health?

  • The #MendTheGap campaign helping to address the stigmas between mental and physical health, whilst home equipment in Argos is also claiming success as one of the best selling premium gym ranges. 

The impact of digital media on the print magazines industry

Why are traditional print magazines struggling?

  • The content that was previously exclusive to a weekly magazine, can now be found instantly, and at a heavy density from the simple google search of a celebrities name. Information is hardly exclusive and that's why, in particular, tabloid magazines have found themselves struggling to uphold previous numbers in the industry.
What genre of magazines is currently bucking the trend and increasing sales? Why is this?

  • Global news and politics magazines. Due to the rise in significant changes within the geopolitical climate, people are 'hungry for' an understanding of politics and the global news climate considering the high risk political climate, we live in, readers find traditional news far more trustworthy as a resource, which lead to a spike in sales.
In contrast, what magazine genres are struggling? Give examples of magazines that have declined or stopped printing altogether.

  • Celebrity Gossip and 'Tabloid' magazines such as Now, Closer, Look, Heat, Marie Claire and NME. 
What statistics are provided to demonstrate the decline in the print magazines industry between 2010 and 2017? What about the percentage decline from 2000?

  • Sales of the top 100 regularly purchased print titles fell by 42% between 2010 and 2017, and since the rise of the digital age the Audit Bureau of Circulations suggests that this decline is around 55% from 2000 to 2010 from original figures of 30.8 million.
What percentage of ad revenue is taken by Google and Facebook?

  • 65%
What strategies can magazine publishers use to remain in business in the digital age?

  • They can utilise advertisement opportunities, the rise of social media and influence of a large social media presence as well as building an online presence and offer online content such as Cosmopolitan's snapchat story. 
Why does the Hearst UK CEO James Wildman suggest that the magazine industry is not dead?

  • Magazines are still being sold, Online users are still extremely prevalent and active, as well as a large social media reach - they still have the readership that they did, however it is distributed in a different way. 
What examples from the Guardian article are provided to demonstrate how magazines are finding new revenue streams? What is the Men's Health branding used for?

  • Examples provided include running events, having brand deals and utilising diversification between industries, Men's Health's branding as a 'fitness/lifestyle' magazine has been used to promote and sell premium home gym equipment in Argos.
What signs for optimism might there be for traditional magazine brands?

  • There is an opportunity of brand safety within the digital age by using digital media services such as Youtube or Facebook, to keep your audience engaging with your brand even if they don't pick up a traditional copy. 
How does Men's Health fit into this picture? Why do you think Men's Health has remained successful in the digital age? Do you think Men's Health will continue to publish for many years to come? Why?

  • Men's Health have a large social media platform, and a cult status in the magazine industry. They have managed to grow with the digital age by offering classic content, whilst also appealing to younger, more influential people through social media and using instagram, in particular to commercialise the superficiality that inherently, and in theory, comes with the site. I believe that Men's Health definitely has potential to continue seeing a rise, as societal attitudes change and adapt and we see this strive for 'personal growth' peak in society, the trustworthy, and culturally renowned content for this kind of mindset is seldom found online therefore Men's Health still has that appeal. However, I don't think that this is an immortal magazine company, and that in upcoming years, content regarding male fitness and lifestyle will become more mainstreamed and they could lose a significant percentage of their audience reach to online content from Buzzfeed or Youtube channels. 

The Men's Health website and social media

What similarities do you notice between the website and the print edition of the magazine?

  • The fonts used, the content that is offered, as well as the images and visual signs placed around the homepage closely representing those seen on print issues. 
What is the Men's Health daily newsletter and what does it include? How does this help Hearst UK to make money?

  • The Men's Health daily newsletter is an email newsletter that includes health news, weight loss tips and workouts straight to a subscribers inbox. Although the subscription is free of charge, this allows Men's Health to also email about promotions, products and services unless the subscriber ticks the box and this allows them to advertise these products and services to an intended audience, which could generate money from both advertising and sales of these products/services. 
Look at the menu bar along the top of the website. What are the menu options? What does this suggest about the representation of men and masculinity associated with Men's Health?

  • The Menu options are Fitness, Mental Strength, Style, Nutrition and Workouts. these suggest a traditional but progressive representation of men, the appearance focused sections appeal to the idea of 'metrosexuality' and a cosmopolitan aspect of male grooming however the mental strength section hints also at the mental progression and tolerance within a contemporary society regarding the traditional, restrictive depictions of men throughout the media. This section of the website both conforms to the idea that traditional 'heterosexual' masculinity is in crisis since it decimates those restrictive ideas of being a 'tough guy' but also subverts them due to the inclusiveness of the 'be whatever man you want to be' narrative threaded through the entire website. 
Choose one of the menu sections and write a list of the features in that area of the website. What target audience are these features aimed at?

  • I chose the 'Mental Strength' Section. It has a key feature which is an open letter on the reality of the consequences of male suicide, 8 famous people speaking on how to cope with depression, A feature on how to deal with stress, how to tell if your friend is suffering from anxiety, and even this feature on how being a man in a contemporary society is not as easy as we may perceive. I believe it is targeted towards a liberal, contemporary male audience - who have adapted to the modernised views on 'what it means to be a man' rather than the superficial, metrosexual man that some of the other sections may be targeted towards. 
Do you think the Men's Health website is trying to sell the print version or simply build a digital audience? What are the advantages and disadvantages of a 'digital first' strategy?

  • Personally, I think that the Men's Health website is trying to simply build a digital audience, there are an array of pop-up ads and on site ads that advertise the print magazine and an array of print exclusive content. The advantages of a digital first strategy are you can appeal your content online, and help keep your brand competitive within a digital market however this means there's a lack of 'exclusive' content for your print magazine, which could impact sales since the audience would see the digital copy as a cheaper, more efficient alternative despite the intentions. This does however create an exclusivity for the print edition and many magazine readers are loyal to the magazines they read, seeing them as an indulgence or a habitual aspect of their week etc so there's an argument that the severity of the impacts of a digital first strategy are widely exaggerated in relation to the actual reality of it all. 
How does the Men's Health Twitter feed use 'clickbait' to try and get users to click through to the magazine's website? Give examples of tweets that are designed to get the audience to click through.

  • Men's Health use ambiguous captions to their articles to utilise the 'clickbait' appeal on their twitter. Tweets such as the one below says 'Hit this stretch' encouraging the reader to click on the article to find out what that stretch, specifically is. Another example of this is with exercises, as seen below, they use ambiguity within captions to encourage the reader to engage with the website to find out more. They also use celebrities as a way to use clickbait, the tweet features a photo of Chris Pratt, a well known marvel actor, to perhaps appeal to an audience. 


How does the Twitter feed uses images and video content alongside text and links?

  • As stated before, the Men's Health page uses celebrity images, images depicting the workouts and also photos of Women in sexually suggestive poses etc to appeal to men- they utilise the sex sells mindset due to the lack of internet regulation, which allows Men's Health to release much less restricted materials online. 
What does the Men's Health Instagram suggest about the Men's Health brand? Is this appealing to a similar audience to the print version of the magazine?

  • It suggests that the brand is far more fitness, and appearance orientated than the print version, however it does include aspects of all the content that the print version provides, therefore it could be argued that it is appealing to the same audience, however the vernacular and language of the posts does imply they are targeting towards a slightly younger demographic.
Is the Men's Health social media designed to sell the print magazine or build a digital audience? Why?

  • I think it definitely is designed to do both, there's a clear promotion of the print magazine and the values of both the digital footprint and the traditional magazine are clearly targeted towards extremely similar audiences and demographics however the online presence definitely utilises social media reach, and the digital zeitgeist to help build a digital following for the brand, in order to make the audience of the magazine far more sustainable in the growing digital age. 
Evaluate the success of the Men's Health brand online. Does it successfully communicate with its target audience? Will the digital platforms eventually replace the print magazine completely?

  •  Men's Health has been clearly successful in creating an online brand, with a following of around 500k, it clearly has formed a relationship with it's target audience, and through the recent content, you can see that it has been successful in communicating the brand's ethos and core values with its target audience. It also offers new, fresh content that keeps up with the dynamic digital climate of a contemporary media audience, and due to its compliance with the growing digital expectations and it's success at keeping up competitiveness through it's digital mediums, I do not think it's impossible for the digital platforms to replace the print magazine. However, Men's Health also has some flaws, it's online platforms don't offer a significant amount of diverse content from it's print counterpart, this could discourage audiences from engaging with the website and the print medium- which could lead to the digital platform overtaking the successes of the print magazine, but the print magazine does still uphold a large, and growing readership which contradicts the accuracy of my earlier hypothesis. 



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