INTRODUCTION

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 The importance of Magazines:

Magazines are a major source of communication and entertainment in

Australia today. Any newsagent will have racks showing hundreds of

different titles. Magazines cater for special interests and give more

recent information than books. They usually have interesting pictures

and graphics making them easier to read. Because they are popular,

they make good profits for publishers, through sales, advertising and

market links.

1.2 Aim of this report

The aim of this report is to show how magazines are constructed to

sell to their target audience, particularly the ways in which a

magazine might interest a particular reader.

2. WHICH MAGAZINES APPEAL TO TEENAGERS?

6 Magazines read by teenagers:

Magazine Title

Gender Target

Price

Frequency of Publication

New Idea

GRAPH

3. HOW TO MAGAZINES APPEAL TO TARGET AUDIENCES:

3.1 Definition of Target Audience:

Target Audience: The target audience is the group of people the

communicator wants to reach with a message. For example, this is the

specific group of people which the publishers hope will buy and read

the magazine. It is described by the way it fits into these

categories:

*Gender *Occupation

*Age *Education

Level *Interests *Income

Magazines use these features to target or aim directly at their group:

*Title *Language Used

*Cover *Types of Articles *Layout and

Appearance *Advertising

Text Box: My report will be focusing on the teenage/female target

audience of girls age thirteen to seventeen. Suppose we look at the

magazine Cosmopolitan. It targets an audience of young women and

mature teenage girls, who are sexy and intimate, with a real passion

for life. The magazine targets this audience by helping contemporary

women to achieve their goals, and live fuller, more glamorous lives.

Monthly features include beauty tips, solutions on how to deal with

boyfriends or spouses, career problems, and ideas on how to alleviate

stress, these all appeal to the target audience. Apart from target

audiences, there is also a thing called a fringe audience. This can be

defined as an audience that is occasionally attracted to something.

Example a cooking magazine may attract buyers of all different ages,

but because of the interest that they all enjoy cooking. However, if

someone was having a party, they might buy this magazine once, just

for a recipe, not because they are a cook. Hence, this is a fringe

audience.

3.2 Front Cover Appeal:

Covers are designed to attract buyers.

Text Box: About Cosmogirl!: CosmoGirl is a magazine for real girls

with real issues — guys, beauty, fashion, money, parents, school,