Men's Health - Industries case study blog tasks

Men's Health - Industries case study blog tasks

Hearst publishing

1) Hearst UK is part of Hearst Communications. What is Hearst Communications and where is it based?

 It is an American mass media and business information conglomerate based in New York City; more specifically in the Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan.

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

Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, television channels, and television stations, including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Houston Chronicle, Cosmopolitan and Esquire. It owns 50% of the A&E Networks cable network group and 20% of the sports cable network group ESPN, both in partnership with The Walt Disney Company.

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

$10.8 billion in 2016.

4) 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?

Hearst Magazines UK publishes 19 magazines and 26 websites in the U.K.
e.g. Men's Health, Women's Health, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Company, House Beautiful, Red, Inside Soap, Bazaar, Elle Decoration...

UK’s largest digital magazine publisher and reaches 12.1 million adults in print and 43 million unique users online every month.

5) What is James Wildman's plan for Hearst UK?

To grow a share in print in order to to stem decline, accelerate growth in digital, diversify revenues through events and partnerships, and look at acquisitions. 

6) What percentage ad decline are consumer magazines facing?

There is currently over 10% decline.

7) What Wildman think about premium content and paywalls?

He thinks that premium content should be paid for and suggests media conglomerates should charge for their premium content. 

8) How has Hearst used diversification to grow the business?

"Diversification looks the best way to grow." - Wildman 
Hearst runs approximately 100 events a year allowing them to attract a large range of audiences. 

9) Is Men's Health increasing or decreasing in circulation?

It has recently increased by 1% in circulation. 

10) What does the press release say about recent successes associated with Men's Health?

These strong results, and the fact that several of our magazines are increasing their readership, highlight the extraordinary quality and continuing appeal of our print products. 
The impact of digital media on the print magazines industry

1) Why are traditional print magazines struggling?

They have been falling since the invention and the rise of digital media. 

2) What genre of magazines is currently bucking the trend and increasing sales? Why is this?

News and current affairs magazines are becoming more popular, but celebrity, gossip and fashion publications are still struggling.

3) In contrast, what magazine genres are struggling? Give examples of magazines that have declined or stopped printing altogether.

Entertainment and gossip magazine seem to be struggling the most. Gardening and cooking magazines have also become largely unpopular in the current day and age.

4) Look at the Guardian article in detail. 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 actively purchased print titles in the UK – those that readers buy or subscribe to – fell by 42% from 23.8m to 13.9m between 2010 and 2017. Since the start of the internet era in 2000, the decline is 55% from 30.8m.

5) What percentage of ad revenue is taken by Google and Facebook?

Google and Facebook account for 65% of the $6.5bn (£4.7bn) UK digital display ad market.

6) What strategies can magazine publishers use to remain in business in the digital age?

By expanding themselves from doing other things other than just print such as holding events to promote themselves and reach a wider audience, release their magazines online or create their own app where people can pay to view their content.

7) Why does the Hearst UK CEO James Wildman suggest that the magazine industry is not dead?

Because they will always have their loyal fan-base stick by them; especially for magazines such as Oh Comely who are aimed at a niche market. 

8) 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?

New revenue streams are being discovered through the idea of creating a wider range of products under the publication's brand name.

9) What signs for optimism might there be for traditional magazine brands?

The importance of construction magazines in our daily lives are important because it's our source of entertainment. It's also very informational, and a lot of people read magazines. Whether it's celebrity gossip, politics, or other topics, there is a wide range to choose from that will satisfy the reader's interest, therefore it essentially be the same as the digital media. 

10) 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 is quite new to the scene compared to other magazine genres and are speaking about topics that people don't usually tend to associate with men but also plays a role in their life which has attracted a lot of audience attention. If they continue to do this and introduce more and more new topics there wouldn't be a reason for them to face a failure. 
The Men's Health website and social media

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

They both feature celebrities as that will grab more audience attention and is a way of promoting themselves. They also share similar media conventions that makes the magazine stand out and underlines key features. 

2) What is the Men's Health daily newsletter and what does it include? How does this help Hearst UK to make money?

Daily dose of health news, weight loss tips and workouts straight to your inbox.

3) 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 bar offers different options such as workouts, building muscle, fitness, nutrition and weight loss. This suggests that appearance and looking muscular is one of the most important things for men and they must be like this in order to prove their masculinity; reinforcing stereotypes. However they also have a category called mental strength which is new to a men's magazine. 

4) 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?

Workouts - 

'Everything you need to know to build bigger shoulders' 

'Jason Momoa's 4-move back workout'

'Melt fat with this tough battle rope workout' 

'This medicine ball workout torches your abs and burns fat simultaneously'

'10 of the best exercises for getting six-pack abs'

5) 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?

Men's Health would also need to release digital versions of their magazines to reach a broader audience and have more people reading their articles as more people tend to read online editions compared to print nowadays.

6) 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.

They use famous people with 'clickbait' titles as audience would be more intrigued by well-known faces.

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

They use more videos and pictures as people are most likely going to be attracted by visuals rather than large amounts of text and they also have a word count on Twitter. 

8) 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?

The Instagram account would be used more to target a younger audience compared to who actually read the magazine as Instagram is seen as a platform more for the younger generation in comparison to things like Facebook.

9) Is the Men's Health social media designed to sell the print magazine or build a digital audience? Why?

It's more to build a digital audience as they're reaching them through digital platforms and it'd be easier to share around the link to their website and how explain how to sign up for online editions rather than telling them where they can make the physical purchases from. 

10) 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 is running successful on digital platforms as they use different types of digital media to reach out to more and more people. This could be the turn where they can completely stop print and just focus on their digital platforms but they'll need to hold research to find out what audiences' would prefer over time.