The vast majority, about 90% of magazines on the market, are special interest magazines.
Special interest magazines are designed with a specific audience in mind.
Some titles include:
Why do you think the majority of magazines are special interest? There are two main reasons:
- Television – Since television is also part of the general interest genre, magazines and TV are in competition for an audience.
- TV can offer more general information and entertainment than any magazine can. It performs the task more frequently, and people are more likely to watch than read.
By contrast, television offers very little on specific topics compared
to special interest magazines. For example, if you are interested in hiking,
Backpacker Magazine
could offer you more information than what you would probably find on
TV.
Similarly,
Saltscapes, a magazine
devoted to “Atlantic Canada's unique people, their culture their
heritage and their values”, could offer more than the average television
show.
Like newspapers and television, magazines earn a lot of their money through
advertising. If you have a product that would interest people who like
a certain hobby, the most effective way to contact them is through products
that promote or embrace that hobby.
For example, if you designed and sold tools for repairing horse saddles
and bridles, would you rather advertise in a general interest magazine,
like Maclean's,
or a magazine designed for cowboys, like Cowboy Magazine?
Because the focus of magazines differs, the approach publishers may take to get their message across differs too. Some magazines make use of colours and photographs to draw attention to articles. Others will write longer, more detailed articles and employ language that is specific to followers of the topic. Sometimes, the use of interesting photographs is employed to attract the reader's attention, even if the picture isn’t entirely relevant to the article.
Ultimately, the goal for all magazines is the same: find and keep an audience,
and encourage them to continue buying the magazine. How they go about
achieving that goal is up to them.