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324 UNR Industry Home Industry Report
Industry TourTelevision, newspapers, and magazines
discovered the Internet several years ago as another method of
advertising to the customer. Now, several years later, online
advertising has grown rapidly, and according to Veronis Suhler,
"online advertising is expected to be worth more than USD24.4
billion by 2004," placing it ahead of existing giants such
as cable and satellite television, network TV, and consumer magazines.
The reason for this raise in online advertising is because of
the "continuing trend of heavy spending by advertisers on
all new media". Another reason for this increase in online
advertising is because "media use in the United States has
risen 3.8 percent to 3,399 hours per person in 1999" and
this figure is estimated to reach "3,786 hours per person
by 2004" (NUA/Veronis 2000).
For instance, the media industry has experienced a raise in online
advertising in the past few years. Therefore, this report involves
a detailed analysis of Web strategies and marketing strategies
within a particular industry, which is the media industry, with
focus on women magazines in the United States. The report will
discuss online readers, discuss online advertising, discuss stakeholder
communication, provide the industry leaders, discuss the special
techniques and provide unique examples of Web and marketing strategies
of the industry leaders, and the report will conclude with a discussion
on future predictions of online women magazines.
Online readers differ from print readers in the sense of their
reading patterns. "Online news reading patterns differ greatly
from newspaper and magazine reading patterns" according to
a study constructed by the Poynter Institute and Stanford University
(NUA/Wired 2000). "People reading news on Internet sites
tend to focus on the article text first, looking at photos and
graphics afterwards," yet the people who read paper print
magazines do the opposite because they look at "illustrations
first then read the text". "Internet users who read
news online read 75 percent of each article whereas newspaper
and magazine readers read less than 30 percent of each article".
According to the article, online readers "visit 6 news sites
per reading session and focus on gathering information" (NUA/Wired
2000).
According to Nielsen Net Ratings, there are more women in the
United States who is online then men who are online in the United
States. The article stated that "almost 51 percent of US
Internet users in May (2000) were women, while 49.2 percent were
men" and therefore, "for the first time, female Internet
users outnumber males in the US". Women online readers in
the United States tend to visit "general interest sites"
on the Internet, such as shopping sites, beauty sites, and health
sites. Therefore, magazines discovered the Internet several years
ago as another method to better serve the customer since magazines
combine these "general interest sites" into one site
(NUA/NielsenNetRatings 2000). Another reason why magazines went
on the Internet was the reason of how online magazines could provide
online advertising to the customer. Consequently, the more magazines
that either is currently on the Internet or plan are going on
the Internet shortly, the more this media industry will experience
a raise in online advertising.
"Advertising is nonpersonal communication of information,
usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products
(goods or services) or ideas by an identified sponsor through
various media" (Strauss 2000). "At the end of last year,
3347 sites were seeking advertising" and this represents
an "increase of 135 percent over 1998 and a breathtaking
increase of 306 percent since 1997" (NUA/AdKnowledge 2000).
Therefore, at the moment, the predominant form and most common
type of online advertising are banner ads. A banner ad is "a
rectangular space appearing on a Web site, paid for by an advertiser,
which allows the user to click-through to the advertiser's Web
site" (Strauss 2000). "Most banners measured 468 x 60
pixels but advertisers are beginning to use smaller formats more
and more" (NUA/AdKnowledge 2000). "The average online
banner runs for four weeks and uses heavier advertising earlier
in the month" according to a report from AdRelevance (NUA/AdRelevance
2000).
Banner ads are an effective way of advertising, because people
who read or view the content of the site are usually the best
target audiences possible and therefore the awareness of the product
or company of the banner ad is increased extremely. "One
measure of a banner ad's effectiveness is to see how many users
click on it" yet even if the users do not click on the banner
ad, the "ad may still have increased their brand awareness
or influenced their attitudes toward the product or company"
(Strauss 2000). "Surfers visiting sites viewed a surprisingly
high 45 percent of banner advertisements for 1 second, which is
long enough to perceive an online advertisement fully" (NUA/Wired
2000). A good example among the industry leaders of this media
industry, which will be discussed later in this report, for a
banner ad is on the Glamour
Web site because the site allows the user to click-through
to the advertiser's Web site, which the advertiser is Maybelline.
The women magazine industry does not use the Internet for the
sole purpose of advertising to the customer because the Industry
can also use the Internet to communicate to their stakeholders.
A stakeholder is an "entity with a specific interest in a
company - for example, an employee, stockholder, supplier, lateral
partnership, and customer" (Strauss 2000). Women magazines
use the Internet to communicate with stakeholders, such as customers,
prospective employees, advertisers, and communicate with the media
and public.
Obviously, the most important stakeholder of the industry is the
customer. Online women magazines offer the customer many benefits,
such as the ability to view or read past magazine issues within
seconds, articles and information on fashion, beauty, and health
can be updated quickly and effectively, and provide the desired
information quicker and easier. Online women magazines also allow
the customer to participate in online events, such as online discussions
and online quizzes, and the sites allow the customer to comment,
give opinions, or ask questions themselves or view the comments,
opinions, or questions of other customers.
Many users can visit the Web sites of this industry of women magazines
in search of career information. Some of the online magazine sites
offer information on employee opportunities within the company,
and/or information on current employee openings within the company,
and even allow the prospective employee to submit an electronic
resume on the site.
Another important stakeholder of the industry is the advertiser.
Online women magazines communicate with the advertiser about the
customers and they also communicate with the customer about the
advertisers. Online women magazines communicate with the advertiser
by providing information on who are the customers of the advertisers
and by providing information on how the customers view or rate
the advertiser's product. Online women magazines communicate with
the customer by providing information on how to contact or locate
the advertisers, information on the product of the advertiser,
and by also providing samples of the advertiser's product.
Online magazines also can use the Internet to inform, persuade,
or entertain the media and public. For example, online magazines
can offer the their contact information, such as their phone numbers,
addresses, and e-mail addressees. The online magazines can also
offer other information, such as press releases or news that relates
to the company or to their industry, or provide information about
special events that relate to the company to their industry.
This report involves a detailed analysis of Web strategies and
marketing strategies within a particular industry, which is the
media industry, with focus on women magazines in the United States.
This section of the industry analysis discusses the top six companies
within the media industry of women magazines, which are Allure,
Elle, Glamour, Jane, Mademoiselle, and Vogue. (Note: View the
Industry Tour to learn what the channels, the strong aspects and
weak aspects of these six industry companies.) Each of these six
industry leaders has special techniques of Web and marketing strategies,
and therefore, the following paragraphs provide unique examples
of Web and marketing strategies of each of the industry leaders.
Allure is the only magazine
that is devoted completely to beauty. This is the key marketing
technique because they are able to have their target market be
women that are looking for help on makeup tips, hairstyles, skin,
and anything else that is going to relate to how a person would
like to look and feel.
Elle is targeted at a woman
that is more interested in the fashion world. They offer tips
on what the styles of this year are, the ways to do makeup and
hair for specific events, all the way to horoscopes. Elle is for
woman that are modern and into how they should look and dress
each season. Their target market is an upscale woman in a big
city. They want to help women feel as though they are stars.
Glamour has a great amount
of focus on the stars of today. This is targeted at people that
want to be somewhat nosey and know who is dating whom in the star
world. In this magazine you can read "Jake the spy guys"
works and know what is going on in the rich and famous arena.
If you want to know what the cast of Friends wore to the Grammy
Awards this is the place to turn to.
Jane is a magazine on the
web has many different places that you can visit. There is fashion,
beauty, real life, dish and many more to choose from. This is
targeted at women that are younger and are interested in ways
to better themselves, such as fashion and beauty tips. There is
information on the stars in this magazine, but it is the stars
that are giving information on them. You can find out what Whitney
Houston did when she was a girl and know how she feels on different
subjects.
Mademoiselle is concerned
with what most of the other magazines are and that is fashion.
In this one they present it in things you should not do, the dos
and don'ts of the fashion world. They will give you the information
on what the designers this year have on the runways and tell you
how to put it together with something else that you might already
own. This is targeted at women that are of a higher income and
more professional.
Vogue's website allows you
to pick which country you would like to go to. For the US link
it is linked with style.com. This shows you what they are concerned
with, Style. This magazine is all about who is on the runway and
what they are wearing, what their accessories are, and where you
should wear them too. The target market for this is the woman
that is trying to be big. They are wealthier and like to be involved
in the fashion world of today.
All of these websites have different special techniques of Web
and marketing strategies to offer. They are all concerned with
the same information, but they present it in different manners.
Depending on your age, economic status, and your feelings on what
is stylish and what is not, is going to depend on which magazine
a person is going to read.
"The Internet has become a billon-dollar business" and
each industry has its "own timeline and each will mark the
advent and development of the Internet, but none more so than
the publishing industry" (NUA/NUA Ltd 1999). The Internet
has allowed the media industry to better serve their stakeholders,
and the future only allows the media industry to further improve
their services. One future prediction of online women magazines
is the prediction that more online magazines will allow the user
to interact with the site more with interactive features, such
as more opinion polls, surveys, and quizzes, or even allowing
the user to submit electronic articles on the site. Another prediction
of online women magazines is improving the speed and ease of their
navigation throughout the Web site, and improving the speed and
ease of finding the user's desired information. Since the media
industry is predicted to continue to improve and expand online
publishing and since consumption patterns of consumers continue
to change, the industry of print publishing is predicted to decrease
due to the "fragmentation and specialization of the market"
(NUA/NUA Ltd 1999).
NUA/AdKnowlegde (2000), "Online Ad Market Growing, Costs Down," URL:http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905355566&rel=true (February 2, 2000), Abstract by the team.
NUA/AdRelevance (2000),"Online
Banner Ads Still Target Broad-Reach Sites,"
URL:http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356022&rel=true
(September 6, 2000), Abstract by the team.
NUA/NielsenNetRatings (2000), "More Women than Men Online in US," URL:http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905355902&rel=true (July 12 2000), Abstract by the team.
NUA/NUA Ltd (1999), "Online Publishing," URL:http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905355141&rel=true (March 29, 1999), Abstract by the team.
NUA/Veronis, Suhler & Associates, Inc. (2000),"Online Advertising to be Worth USD24.4 billion," URL:http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905355959&rel=true (August 8, 2000), Abstract by the team.
NUA/Wired (2000), "Internet Users Read Differently," URL:http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905355759&rel=true (May 5, 2000), Abstract by the team.
Strauss, Judy and Raymond Frost (2000). E-Marketing. Upper Saddle NJ: Prentice Hall.
Homepages of the cited magazines:
http://www.allure.com
http://www.ellemag.com
http://www.glamour.com
http://janemagazine.com
http://mademosielle.com
http://www.vogue.com
