Men's Health - Industries case study blog tasks

Hearst publishing

Research Hearst publishing by looking at the Hearst UK website and the Wikipedia entry for the parent company and conglomerate Hearst Communications. Then, answer the following questions:

Hearst Communications is an American mass media and business information conglomerate based in New York.

Hearst Communication conglomerate is made up of many industries and brands. These American newspapers and magazines (Cosmopolitan),  half of the A&E Network TV channel and 20% of US sports broadcaster ESPN.

The global revenue for Hearst Communications was recorded at $10.8 Billion in 2016.

In terms of Hearst UK, they publish over 20 magazine titles. This includes Men’s Health, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Elle, Inside Soap, Good Housekeeping and many more. 

 Campaign interview with Hearst UK CEO James Wildman 

James Wildman's plan for Hearst UK is to grow share in print, expand more digitally, diversify revenues through events and partnerships and look at acquisitions.

Consumers are facing ad declines of more than 10% this year. This is a result of money flowing to Google, Facebook and online influencers and chipping away at print brands.

Wildman states that he thinks that premium content should be paid for. However, he states that no paywalls are being planned for.

Hearst has used diversification to grow the business by running multiple events throughout the year. 

Finally, read this Hearst UK press release for their late 2018 ABC figures and answer two simple questions:

Men's Health is increasing in circulation. Circulation has increased by 0.15%

Men's Health has enabled Hearst to successfully retain market leadership  in each of its monthly magazine competitive sectors

The impact of digital media on the print magazines industry

Traditional print magazines are currently struggling to keep up with digital platforms. Social media platforms (e.g Snapchat) offer audiences with free news, print magazines do not commonly offer this service. Audiences will be more inclined to consume the free news rather than the news they would have to pay for.

News and political magazines are now bucking the trend and are increasing in sales. Consumers want to gain knowledge on the current political events that could affect them.

In contrast to this, gossip and celebrity magazines are struggling. This is strongly supported by these examples: NME has completely stopped printing magazines, Now is down 20.8% and Closer is down 18.8%

In the article statistics are provided, this demonstrates the decline in the print magazines industry between 2010 and 2017. Overall, the readers have fallen by 42% from 23.8 million to 13.9 million.

Google and Facebook have 65% of the £4.7 billion UK digital display ad market.

Celebrity magazines publishers will need to find a unique selling point and implement it throughout the magazine. This is because celebrity news is easily accessible on the internet, so they will need to include something distinctive to grab the attention of consumers.

The Hearst UK CEO James Wildman suggests that the magazine industry is not dead. He refers to the Hearst company and explains that they get 5 million readers a month and states that "that's hardly dead"

Magazines are finding new revenue streams by moving their companies into online and social media platforms

There are signs of optimism for traditional magazine brands. Many consumers are less reliant on news coming from social media platforms as they are concerned about 'Fake News'. This leads to many consumers sticking to traditional magazine brands. 

Men's Health has remained highly successful in the digital age. I think this is because Men's Health has a unique selling point and loyal readers. Their magazines are very distinct to the others that are seen in the industry. 

The Men's Health website and social media

Between the website and the print editions of the magazine, you notice that both of these media products include aspects that are exclusive to mankind. Tips on fitness, lifestyle and fashion are seen throughout both.

The Men's Health daily newsletter is an extra service provided for readers. Consumers will sign up to get newsletters daily that contain additional information about health and fitness.

The menu bar options are very much health and fitness related. This suggests that the readers of this magazine most likely prioritise these topics the most as the type of magazines they read will reflect the type of person the consumer is.

One of the menu sections is 'Workouts'. This section of the website focuses on different tips and routines that readers could incorporate into their workouts. This would be very useful for men that are passionate about fitness and physique maintenance.

I think that Men's Health is using the MH website to, both, sell print magazines and build up a digital audience. Using the website to reach both objectives would be a clever business plan. Men's Health will gain more of an audience and their print sales will increase, whilst simultaneously building a digital audience that they can rely on if their print magazines are not as successful. Also having both a print magazine and a website allows for more profit as they will be getting commissioned for featuring ads.

Men's Health's' twitter feed uses click-bait to try and get users to click through the magazine. It does this by using intriguing pictures without fully describing what is happening in the caption. This makes audiences intrigued to find out more. The only way they would be able to gain this information is by clicking on the link that takes you to the MH website

Men's Health uses images of men that are in shape along with a motivational caption. Below the image, they attach a link to their website so that audiences can find out how to reach their goals like the men featured.

The Men's Health Instagram suggests that they are very passionate about health and fitness. Although it might be appealing to some audiences that read the print version of the magazine, some of Men's Health readers might not be completely interested in their Instagram. This is because it does not feature the other aspects of Men's Health.

Men's Heath social media was designed to build a digital audience. This is evident as all the posts made on their twitter contains a direct link to their website. 

The Men's Health brand online was successful in communicating with its target audience as it includes things that will interest them. Digital platforms will eventually replace print magazines completely but I think print magazines still have a lot of opportunities, in terms of business, left for them.