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Women's mags: past their sell-by date?

We're sick of celebs, we love the internet... is it any wonder the gloss is coming off the glossies? Is the 'mental chocolate' effect of mags one indulgence too much in the current market asks Valerie Shanley

Image

Tatler

The Gloss

VIP

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If the future of print media is at a crossroads, there is one specific market taking a bigger-than-average hand-bagging. Women's magazines, around for 350-odd years, are in danger of being left on the shelf as a result of stiff competition from their younger, faster rivals – the online websites that provide fashion news, celebrity gossip and red-carpet images at the click of a button. Plummeting advertising revenues are taking their toll on budgets, while for consumers, the credit crunch means less spare cash for life's little luxuries. Irish titles have the additional problem of competing with shelf loads of UK ones, not to mention the weekend newspaper supplements that have snapped up a lot of fashion and lifestyle content.

Kate Shanahan, a lecturer in DIT's school of media, says that with so many titles offering a similar product it's difficult to get reader loyalty. "Newspapers have cannibalised the market because they are so fast, and the 'soft' features that were standard magazine content have been appropriated by the colour supplements. Magazine editors are fishing from an ever-deceasing pool of celebrities that is also fished by mainstream media – it's often old news by the time a magazine is published. Content that is wholly Irish relies on the same topics from title to title, and you will also find it's the same group of editors moving from title to title."

Sales figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation for the end of 2008 mainly show falling circulation, with a few exceptions – Image, Prudence and Irish Tatler recorded a 2%, 3% and 4% growth respectively. But that was December, before pay cuts and redundancies started to really kick in.

It's estimated that about 65% of the total circulation of women's magazines in Ireland consists of UK titles. UK consumer spending on magazines grew by 48% during the boom decade up to 2008 – with Irish buyers contributing significantly to that growth says Mark James from digital advertising agency and media consultancy Net Behaviour. He believes the weekly titles are going to take the biggest hit during the recession, while the glossier monthlies may survive – just.

"Buying two or three weekly magazines is now a definite over-indulgence," he says. "So the average number of purchases goes down, and money is saved for the monthly-magazine purchase. But that's not where it ends. The magazine-advertising market is in a race against most other media, with the exception of online, to the bottom of the barrel. And given magazines are primarily a branding medium, in times when a quicker return is needed by advertisers, newspapers are better at using their scale and late copy deadlines to react quickly and get value messages out to consumers which drive footfall and sell product."

Caroline Kennedy, MD of Kennedy PR, agrees, but also feels that in a recession, ironically, the desire for "small, indulgent treats" can get stronger. "It's not that women will stop buying, but where previously they got their information and entertainment from several sources, they are choosing just one. Getting that balance of cover and content right is extremely tough just now – I wouldn't like to be the editor trying to get it right. But recent circulation figures are really a correction to reflect the current economic climate; they're not a real drop. I believe Irish magazines will survive if they can stay focused on their target market."

The target audience of Prudence has grown since its launch in 2004 because of its increasingly relevant recession-proofing ethos. "Unlike other magazines, we don't focus on what celebrities are wearing, or how thin they are," says editor Annette O'Meara. "It's very much about looking and feeling good, but with that prudent affordability always in view – none of our fashion shoots feature entire looks over €230, for example. Women are a lot more selective in how they spend their money and we tapped into that way before it became so relevant."

One publisher who believes his timing will ultimately prove successful is Michael O'Doherty, who added new glossy Stellar to his other monthlies VIP and Kiss last October. A risky move in the current market surely? "It is probably the worst time generally for magazines," he says. "You have to be particularly crazy to launch at such a time. But my feeling is that magazines take about a year to establish, and so there is something to be said for starting out when times are tough. The first year, you usually take a hit, and the advertisers will wait to see how your sales figures perform."

But all women's magazines, home grown or imported, are suffering something of an identity crisis. One thirty-something former buyer of several titles a week feels they no longer entertain and inform. "I stopped buying the big glossy monthly style bibles like Vogue and Elle because they were too expensive and too cumbersome in comparison to Grazia. But then I stopped buying any magazines at all because I could look at celebrity fashion online. I have a growing unease about the excessive consumerism that is championed in most publications and over the last year I no longer have the stomach for mags featuring €1k handbags. In the current climate, 'celebrity' seems irrelevant and even shopping, to a degree, has lost its lustre. Magazines don't 'speak' to me anymore."

Younger women are not being catered for– if the concerns of her students are anything to go by – says Kate Shanahan. "I think publishers may have lost sight of their audience, an audience more intelligent than they are given credit for. There's also the impact of social-networking sites. Women no longer need that identification with other women that reading a magazine used to give."

Celebrities, once such a focus, have practically become parodies of themselves. There's probably not much more the world and its mother needs to know from yet another Jordan "exclusive". But where are the women with something relevant and interesting to say? Not in women's magazines, says Shanahan. "Women columnists used to be hired for their strong opinions, but I can't really think of any currently who stand out. And you are even less likely to find an exciting, opinionated columnist in these times when advertisers have to be courted so carefully."

It's that financial reality which fuels complaints that Irish women's magazines have changed very little in the past decade. Writer Orna Ross, a former magazine contributing editor, says that although she feels women's magazines will not become redundant, the ongoing problem is that editors are obliged to put the interests and concerns of their advertisers above those of their readers.

"They have to – otherwise they'd be out of business," she says. "This means that the beauty industry, which I personally see as an enemy of female happiness, runs the magazine agenda. A pro-woman line can never suit beauty advertisers because their products are inherently useless – no product can make you beautiful or take a day off your age – and so they can only sell them if their customer base feels insecure enough to buy a myth." Does that mean women's magazines will only survive if they continue reinforcing deeply held insecurities? "Making women feel deficient is something magazines do very well – in the 1950s the emphasis was on housekeeping skills; today it's breast size or wrinkle count," says Ross. "Magazines are the outer manifestation of the carping inner critic that resides in every female."

Today, the abundance, and the speed at which we can all source information, whether valuable and entertaining or not, marks a phenomenal shift in our lives. The "mental chocolate" of a glossy magazine could be a luxury too far – especially when it's virtually there for free on the internet. Ross disagrees. "I think the internet is much more of a threat to news than magazines or feature writing. For many women, the right magazine is like a good friend. Even though they can get the actual information online, women still want the hard copy to take to the bath or bed. But a change is afoot in our culture, and the question is how that change will affect women's magazines. There will always be an element of escapism, aspiration and fantasy in magazines, but will they also find room to thoughtfully address the reality of women's lives? I'd like to think so."

Irish Market Leaders

IMAGE

The grande dame of Irish glossies, Image has long catered for the well-read, well-heeled woman who is as interested in art as she is in fashion. The average reader age is 33, but the title has been courting a younger market of late with high-profile international celebrity interviews. Still maintains its strong focus on 'real' women, and reported a 2% increase in sales in the latest industry survey.

IRISH TATLER

Strong on fashion, Irish Tatler champions Irish designers and photographers. The magazine's Irish Tatler Woman of the Year Awards is a fixture on the social calendar. Has recently moved away from cover shots of models in favour of home-grown celebrities like Amanda Byram and Yvonne Keating, whose May cover was the biggest seller of the last five years.

THE GLOSS

Launched in 2006 as the magazine for 'thinking women' The Gloss is word heavy in comparison to its rivals and is notable for its high-end production values. Regular contributors include Vanity Fair contributing editor George Wayne and film producer Julia Le Brocquy, the niece of artist Louis. Irish Times subsidiary D'Olier Investments owns 50% of the magazine; latest annual accounts showed losses of €741,537.

V.I.P.

Irish equivalent of Hello! has not run out of celebrities to feature, despite suggestions otherwise by naysayers who said that Ireland provided too limited a pool. Now 10 years old, the magazine continues to hold down a strong readership, never deviating from its interview style and soft-focus photo shoots. Its circulation figures of 31,045 puts it ahead of all other Irish monthly titles.