Women's Magazines Continue to Be a Growing Media Market

1. Introduction

Women's magazines continue to be a growing media market. The following extract is from a report published by Mintel, on 01. October 2004:

"The UK market for women's magazines has been showing accelerated growth following a period of consistent decline up until 2000, and Mintel estimates that in 2004 sales will be 13% higher than in 1999, with 9% of that growth achieved since 2002..."

Just one publisher, The National Magazine Company Ltd., produces over 14 magazines aimed at women, and boasts that '1 in every 2 UK women read a Natmag magazine'. Furthermore, the Office for National Statistics reports that in 2000 - 2001, '64 per cent of women compared with 57 per cent of men' read magazines.

With just this limited research, it is clear that women's magazines continue to grow in popularity, or at the very least, these publications form a market that is unlikely to dwindle in the future. The research also shows that the market is undoubtedly inundated with publications, and is therefore highly competitive.

Any new publication that is released must be produced with consideration to this research, in that it must be reflective of the tastes of today's woman, and undoubtedly it must be focused

on a certain female age range and background. There are many 'categories' that women fall into: the young woman, the single woman, the married woman, the retired woman, etc. and although it is difficult to classify women (and more generally, people) into a certain genre like this, the magazine needs to show some reference to a specific type of woman.

2. Viewpoint

I intend to produce a magazine which is reflective of my views on women's publications: that they are often patronizing, frequently hypocritical, and without fail, but in many guises, they assume that a woman's ultimate ambition is to be as aesthetically beautiful as she can.

I am forever angered that women's magazines, in a so-called liberated-woman-age, feature articles on independent and successful women, only to be followed by features on 'how to please your man in the bedroom' or 'how to make your lipstick last longer' etc. Often these articles are highly contradictory of other, intelligent articles that may be found in the publication, and so 'mixed messages' are subtly sent out to the reader. Also, the articles on health and beauty, which dominate most women's magazines, are somewhat repetitive, in that the hackneyed 'drink eight glasses of water a day to detox your system' and 'apply face powder to finish your make-up' (goodness, is that what it's for?) phrases are a literal waste of space.

Another frustrating element of women's magazines (and any magazine for that matter) is that they are half-full with advertisements. Obviously, I am naпve to the financial implications of such advertising, and can only assume that these adverts do much to fund the production of the magazine itself (and prove highly lucrative for the advertisers), but I find it very annoying that as a magazine reader I part with probably two thirds of my Ј2.50 (about Ј1.60) for the sake of a 'magazine' which realistically is two thirds full of adverts. More specifically a particular annoyance is that frequently the inside front covers are full of advertising, and it is a deterrent to read on.

Of course, my grievances about women's magazines are exactly that: mine. I am not a feminist (and I do not really know the definition of a feminist anyway), I am simply a young and intelligent woman that reads between the lines of these publications. Whilst my views may seem intense, given that there are worse issues in our society, I cannot believe