Magazine genres-Types of Magazine
Broadly speaking,
there are two types of magazines:
- General interest magazines and
- Special-interest magazines.
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| Types of Magazines |
General interest magazines are those that attempt
to cater to a wide variety of reading interests such as India Today, The
Illustrated Weekly of India(now defunct ). The Week, Frontline, ‘G’; and
several others, Though they are largely news magazines, such magazines carry
features on the arts, culture, environment, films reviews, business and
economics, Gossip. etc. General interest magazines with the focus on news and
current affairs number over 500 and have the largest readership.
Special interest
magazines are those that cater to the interest of a specific profession or
group. Thus business magazines like Business India, Business World and Business
Today are of special interest to the corporate world and to business and
finance protessionals. Money investment and similar magazines carter to the
interest of investors in the stock market.
Other genres in the
special-interest category are film magazines (Movie, Filmfare . Stardust, Cine
Blitz). Women’s magazines (Femina, Savvy Women’s Era, Celebrity), Computer
& and Technology magazines (Computers Today), Computers &
Communications, Telematics, Computer Express ), Science magazines (2,000 A.D.),
children’s magazines (Target, Chandamama), career and compelition magazines
(career and competition times), police and detective magazines (Police Times, Dakshatha),
and many others targeted at readers interested in astrology, agriculture,
literature, environment, interior decoration, architecture, sports, etc.
besides these genres there are trade magazines and technical magazines catering
to each trade and each branch of medicine, engineering, management, etc.
News and current
affairs periodicals which number nearly 4500 have the largest readership –
around 27% of the total periodicals circulation. Next in popularity and
literacy and cultural periodicals (around
2000), commanding a circulation of around 25%. An example of this type of
periodicals is the Tamil magazine Kumudam,
which has a circulation of nearly half a million copies. Surprisingly,
religious or philosophical periodicals have a circulation of over 8% of the
total distribution. Film magazines are growing in number and circulation. Often
obsense ‘stills’ from films accompany serious reviews. Even the so-called respectable family magazines,
resort to this gimmick to step up sales. Political and film gossips makes up
the staple fare of most general interest and news magazines, which in terms of
circulation are on the decline compared to specialized periodicals aiming at
target – groups such as youth, children, women, film buffs, professionals, executives,
business groups, computer users, sport lovers and others.
With the dramatic
sport on the number of dailies and periodicals has come ‘investigative’
reporting to thought some of invades privacy and verges on gossip. The film
magazines are particularly guilty of this approach to journalism. However
exposes of corruptions in high places have given the national dailies in
particular of news crusading spirit. Further, severe competition has shaken the
complacency of the so called monopoly Press which has begun sending out more
reporters in to the field for ‘spot’ and investigative reporting.
Advertisers like to
target their product ad services at specific rather than general audiences;
they term this as strategy ‘niche marketing. They like, for instance, to target
housewives who they belive as chief for decision makers in Indian homes,
especially with regard to consumer and consumer durable articles. So, Womens
magazines are selected for paddling not only products of interest to women, but
also products for other members of family. Up-market premium products are
advertised in expensive English magazine, while
the downmarket products are advertised in low-priced and not-so-glossy
magazines.
In advertising, the
name of the game is segmentation- the categorization of potential consumers in
terms of demographics, psychographics and lifestyles. The advertiser aims at
giving potential consumers the maximum number of OTS (Opportunities to See).
The greater the exposure to an advertisement the greater is the chance of
products being purchased ; so goes the assumption. Quality, Price, usefulness,
relevance, are criteria which do not concern the advertiser very seriously when
it comes to exploiting magazines for selling products, services and ideas.
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