Magazine Audiences and Uses and Gratifications Theory

Magazine Audiences

Targeting Audiences

- Weekly magazines target more working class than middle class. Paid for magazines with highest C2DE readership are Take A Bread, What's On TV, OK! and TV Choice - all weekly magazines.

- Quality monthly magazines target more middle class audiences. Paid for magazines with the highest ABC1 readership are the monthlies Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, etc.

- Most popular weekly and monthly magazines have predominantly female readerships.

- Magazines aimed at men have lower circulations. Most successful are Men's Health and BBC Top Gear. 

Social Class Table

MOJO Readers

- Mojo has fairly small circulation of about 68000 and a readership of about 138000 (figures from NRS (PAMCo). Audience is more niche than magazines such as Cosmopolitan (over 1 million).

Class: Mojo gains similar share of middle and working class readers (Their pitch to advertisers claims a mostly middle class audience, possibly based on circulation, however NRS suggests otherwise)

Gender: Mojo is four times more likely to be read by men than women.

Age: Readership is adult. Nearly two thirds of the readers are over 35. However, higher proportion of 15-34 year olds read magazines, compared to proportion of over 35 year olds.

Uses and Gratifications Theory

Personal Identity - Reinforcing 'authentic' music fan, fandom, artists as role models, values of a genre. In MOJO, they could be promoting an artist eg. John Lennon taking up a page to promote his album - audiences can see him as a role model.

Social interaction and integration - 'Mind blowers' section, creating debates. In MOJO, if in an interview an artists answers with a controversial opinion, this could cause debates and arguments (something to talk about).

Entertainment - Girls, attractive stars, gossip. In MOJO, the CD's they provide are a source of entertainment for audiences.

Information - Main function of MOJO to give us information. In MOJO, they could give information on artists' music releases, information on ticket sales for concerts, etc.