“Magazines are the most successful media format ever to have existed” – Bring the history of magazines up to date. 

For a long time magazines were understood to be a very successful medium and one that was around to stay, however the rise of the internet and digital media appears to have taken its toll on the magazine industry, potentially more than any other, as circulation figures plummeted and the magazine industry tried to understand how to tackle this issue.

It is estimated that the magazine market worth in the UK was around £4 billion, with 692 million magazines sold. The figures show a decline by almost 50%  in the numbers sold from 2011 and it is estimated the industry has an annual growth rating of -6%, which demonstrates just how much the development of online journalism and apps has damaged the magazine industry. 

Of the 692 million magazines sold, the revenue distribution within the industry is something that remains consistent, despite the drop in sales. TV Listings and Women’s magazines still take the largest percentages which therefore suggests that the drop isn’t because a particular interest may have been lost, it is a drop across all sectors. Reports suggest TV Choice is the consumer magazine with the highest circulation figures, with 1,167,012. 

However there are some magazines that seem to be succeeding in the changing climate, and there could be a particular reason for that. The Spectator and The Economist have both seen rises in their circulations so far this year, 11% and 8% respectively. The difference between these two magazines and other magazines that are seeing a downfall in circulation, is that these magazines have a subscription paywall on the websites, which only allows a specific number of articles to be read before you are required to sign up for a subscription. Reader’s then sign up for the subscription, often ones that include a digital and print copy, and that in turn raises the circulation number and value of the magazines. 

The largest publishers in the industry are also suffering the same fate. Conde Nast has suffered the biggest loss of all of the major industries with a fall 8.9% in it’s circulation. 

Despite the loss of interest in some sectors (retirement, TV listings and Sci-fi), the political landscape of the country and also the world may have resulted in a spike in interest in Politics, Current Affairs and news based magazines such as The Economist and The Spectator. This suggests that this particular magazine sector is using the interest and questioning of politics in combination with a paid subscription to paywall the content and make the print magazine and online content work in tandem to create a stable and successful business.