Oh Comely: Audience

How does Oh Comely introduce itself?

• Oh Comely, introduces itself as a 'powerful mix of words and pictures, stylishly presented and much loved by its audience' 

How do the print circulation/readership statistics for Oh Comely compare to Men's Health?

• Oh Comely's readership figures are around 25,000 per issue whereas Men's Health boasts 1,047,000 readers on the print copy alone. The circulation figures also differ with Men's Health having roughly around 200,000 copies in circulation which is significantly larger than Oh Comely since they are sold globally, as well as having a far more mainstream appeal to an audience.

How is Oh Comely distributed to the audience? 

• Oh Comely is sold through independents, WH Smith and international outlets.

What do you think the target audience demographics for Oh Comely might be? Some details are provided by the magazine (e.g. average age 27) but make an educated guess on further demographic details.

• I think that the average age is around 27, but the age range is from 22-35, They are probably a middle-class, educated readership with center left political ideologies. I also think that the audience would be majorly white due to the race proportions within England however the content may appeal to a more diverse audience.

What psychographic groups might be attracted to Oh Comely?

• Oh Comely's mission statement and description of their audience as 'creative women who spend money on the things they love' appeals to Reformers and Explorers of audience psychographics.

What social class classification would you expect most Oh Comely readers to be? Why?

• I would expect the audience to be middle-class due to the sophisticated and arthouse aesthetic to the magazine.

What level of education would you expect for most Oh Comely readers? Why?

• I believe that the audience of Oh Comely will be educated to Graduate level, since it has a lot of text and is a complex layout and composition for casual readers.

What audience pleasures are offered by Oh Comely?

• Oh Comely. offers surveillance [Blumler & Katz] as a key audience pleasure, as it has politically aligned narratives, and is very insightful. It also offers an aspect of personal relationships since it offers information on the 2 University friends who created the magazine and also has content with athletes, activists and youtube/social media influencers, which also supports the two step flow theory and the idea of opinion leaders.

It has been suggested Oh Comely is a “magazine about people, their quirks and creativity rather than money and what it can buy”. How does the design and advertising content of Oh Comely support this view?

• The design and advertising content of Oh Comely, endorse this idea of the magazine as prioritising the representations of culture rather than commercialised content  through the lack of advertising, both within the magazine itself and in handouts included. The minimalist composition of the front cover and title pages also supports the idea that this is not about aesthetic value rather the content involved. This can also be seen through the creators describing the magazine as having an 'arthouse aesthetic' they created the magazine to have a focus on the art and creative aspects whilst also providing diverse and controversial content. 

Why do you think Oh Comely has been able to build a loyal audience of subscribers in the eight years since it launched? 

• I think that Oh Comely has been able to build a loyal audience due to its targeted content and unorthodox composition, It offers content that is targeted towards a niche audience, and subverts a lot of mainstream magazine conventions and arguably the hegemonic mediated ideologies regarding contemporary gender dynamics and societal beliefs. The magazine also appeals to a middle aged, educated audience, who are more likely to stay loyal to a brand that appeals to their personal politics and validates their own perspectives and experiences, which Oh Comely is objectively catering to. Due to this, I think that Oh Comely has been able to assert dominance within a niche threshold of a specified audience and this has arguably been sustainable due to it's success at keeping up with contemporary ideologies, perspectives and content.