Look No Further Than Your Screen: The Future of Fashion Magazines
Whereas devotees of fashion once staked out the newsstands to get their latest fix of the freshest magazines, a new movement has been rapidly gaining momentum over the last few years. Online publications designed to imitate their glossy counterparts are popping up and now receiving hundreds of thousands of visitors each month.
While fashion folks are still faithful to their printed publications, the ease and low cost of constantly updating an online version with fresh content in our blog obsessed, 24/7 society has become increasingly important. Additionally, now that many consider social networking to be a cornerstone of human interaction, most of the newer online magazines have the added advantage of allowing people to comment on articles and connect in forums. The letter to the editor page that traditional magazines employ at the beginning of each issue now seems stale in comparison.
Online magazines are now trying to draw a line in the sand between themselves and blogs by focusing on premium photography, full length articles, and high end fashion with information and direct links to the designers.
The traditional magazines have always done a fantastic job of offering many of the quality elements that their online counterparts are now just perfecting such as beautifully photographed spreads and in-demand designer items. But, now that they’ve caught up in their appearance and offerings, major advertising revenue is coming into play. And, many companies love the prospect of advertising within an online publication because the rates are often less than half of the cost to grace the pages of traditional glossies (which can run $60,000 to $100,000 for a single page).
As online publications continur to raise the bar on quality and gain more advertising dollars in the process, the mainstays of the print world will have to tighten their budgets. After all, they are the ones that have to worry about rent, the cost of paper and printing, employing a roster of regular staff members and delivering the magazines to newsstands every month.
Tags: Advertising, Fashion, magazines, the future
August 11th, 2008 at 11:36 am
I often hear so many complain about getting a “new” magazine in the mail especially from social networking folks. Some reason may be the environment or so many just can’t set aside their computer long enough to pick up a magazine. Me? I was done with the traditional fashion magazines a long time ago. Mostly due to the false images. I love fashion but without the side of guilt please. Although my favorite magazine is Esquire and I won’t give it up I love carrying it around with me until I get through the entire thing cover to cover or at least the “Meat of the Month Club”.
August 15th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Chantel: You have a point regarding traditional magazines. And, while I too have a favorite title or two, the amount of ads has grown to a point of ridiculousness. When it feels like 20 or 30 pages have to be flipped just to reach the first bit of actual content, something’s wrong.