How magazines make Money and the Structural Triangle

Most magazine publishers rely on primarily advertising revenue as a significant part of their profit. A small minority of the money made on magazines is due to the subscriptions. However without advertising all lifestyle and music magazines would not be able to survive. Advertisers often want to target their products at particular audiences.  Various magazine publishers will have specific niche markets this allows them to communicate advertisements to this target audience which means more sales and successful sales for advertisers which will make them want to advertise more. The magazine producer will attempt to seal their readership to the advertisers. 

The three factors which form the basis of the business model for model of media producers are advertisers, readership and circulation. 

Example:

The readership for Marie Claire is described by the magazine publisher (IPC) 

-       ABC1 professional women aged 25-34

When GIVENCHY decide to buy a full page ad I Marie Claire for £17,000 they do this as they believe that the magazine will be bought by 280’000 high class women below 40 with a good level of disposable income. 

The main sources of income for magazines are shown in the structural triangle:

The Structural Triangle:
For my research i looked at two interpretations of the Structural Triangle; one being Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and the second being the Triangle of Oppression.Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:Maslow wanted to understand what motivates people, he believed that people possess a set of motivation systems unrelated to rewards or unconscious desires. He stated people are motivated to achieve certain needs, when we fulfill each one we move on and seek the next one. When these needs are unmet the desire to fulfill them becomes stronger the longer they are unmet i.e the longer someone goes without food the hungrier they become. We must satisfy  the lower basic needs before moving on. Every person has the capability to move up the hierarchy however that progress is often paused by failures such as divorce, loss of a job. 

The Triangle of Oppression:The Triangle of Oppression enables us to examine our attitudes beliefs and behaviors within asocial context rather than as merely individuals. The Triangle ofOppression gives us a way to begin engaging ourselves in a social justice processes.The Triangle of Oppression enables us to think more critically about the powerful ideas aboutdifference that exist in society, and that are used to exploit those differences within the systemsof society.

One of the main reasons how magazines make money is due to understanding their target audience. By understanding their audiences wants and needs it allows them to successfully expand their readership. They are able to pinpoint their needs by providing demographics such as the audience’s geo-location and traffic sources. Secondly they use social media to their advantage, sites such as Facebook and Twitter are the best and biggest social media channels for audience development. For example, when they post an update on a new issue that’s out, their readers can share the issue to their chosen social media site. 

Thirdly they make the magazine available across multiple platforms. Such as smart phones and tablets to read and access their media online. Fourth they set up a magazine subscription for their readers, such as a free yearly subscription, it solidifies readership and attracts advertisers. Lastly they make a media kit- this provides information about the readers, a sample of the publication, how it's distributed and information about advertising. E.g. how much a quarter, half-page and full page ad costs.