Nine in Ten Americans Engage with Magazine Media, Most Take Action on Ads in Magazines: News/Media Alliance Report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Arlington, VA - Heavy magazine readers are a force when it comes to their influence on social media and with family, friends, and neighbors on their shopping and purchasing decisions, making them an important audience for advertisers, according to a new report released today by the News/Media Alliance.

The new report, 2024 Magazine Supplement to the Market Report: Magazine Media: Influential, Engaged & Action-Oriented, provides facts and figures on the magazine media audience, magazine readership, and heavy* magazine readers' preferences, influence, and purchasing behavior. The report includes the latest data from MRI-Simmons 2024 spring 2024 data set; MRI Simmons' Starch Advertising Study (January - December 2023); and MRI Simmons' Multi-Media Engagement Study, May 2023.

Magazine media continue to enjoy strong readership, with a print and digital audience of 223 million Americans in 2024. Nearly nine in ten (87%) American adults engaged with magazine media in recent months and span all ages and many races and ethnicities. These trends have been stable over the last four years, indicating a strong and loyal magazine audience.

According to this year's report, heavy magazine readers are more likely than other media users to say they use social media to rate or review a product or service on social media, and therefore may build a following and be regarded as influencers. Heavy magazine readers are also more influential than other media users in their recommendations to friends and family, neighbors or colleagues, and with others online and in stores, especially around healthcare and automotive products and services.

The Magazine Supplement also finds continued strong engagement with, and actions taken by, heavy magazine readers on advertisements they see in magazines. Magazine readers are consistently very positive toward advertisements they see in magazine media. Nearly six in ten (57%) adults say ads in magazines fit well with the content. Nearly eight in 10 (78%) magazine readers who see an ad in their magazine take an action as a result. One in four readers looked for more information about the product/service (25%) or visited the advertiser's website (23%).

Alliance President & CEO Danielle Coffey said, "This latest data on the magazine audience demonstrates magazine readers' continued appeal as a key target group for advertisers, as well as the wide-ranging benefits of magazines to their readers, reinforcing the value and effectiveness of magazine media for marketers in reaching key purchasing groups."

Today's magazine publishers are not only providers of original journalism; they provide a variety of customer-focused marketing solutions, from print and digital advertising to ecommerce sites, events, research and marketing services.

Coffey continued, "Nowhere else can readers find the quality journalism and content that our members offer. With our members, marketers can feel confident that their ads will always appear alongside trusted and credible content."

*Heavy magazine readers are the top quintile of magazine users.

Highlights from the 2024 Magazine Supplement:

1. Magazine media readership is strong, with nearly nine in ten American adults of all ages reporting reading magazine media in the last six months.

• The print and digital magazine audience remains strong at 223.0 million adults in spring 2024.
• Nearly nine in ten American adults of all ages (87%) reporting reading magazine media in the last six months.

2. Magazines reach an engaged audience of young and diverse consumers.

• Magazine readership continues to enjoy broad diversity, with nine in ten Asian Americans (91%) and members of the LGBT community (90%), and nearly nine in ten Black/African Americans (88%), Hispanic Americans (86%), and American Indian or Alaska Native (88%) having recently read print and digital magazine media. in the past six months.
• Eighty-nine percent of 18-24-year-olds have read a magazine in that time in 2024.

3. Magazine readers seek out magazines for their many unique and positive qualities.

• Magazines provide readers with feelings of inspiration, fulfillment and enjoyment that make them stand out from other media types.
• Magazine readers are more likely than other media users to say that magazines are way to learn about new products, inspire them to buy things, get them to try new things, inspire them in their own life, and provide information that helps them make decisions, and are a treat for them.
• Magazine readers also are more likely to say that they trust magazines to tell the truth.

4. Magazine readers take actions on information they get from magazine ads.

• Nearly eight in 10 (78%) magazine readers who see an ad in their magazine take an action as a result.
• One in four readers looked for more information about the product/service (25%) or visited the advertiser's website (23%).

5. Magazine readers are consistently very positive toward ads they see in magazine media.

• Nearly six in ten (57%) adults say ads in magazines fit well with the content, more than those who say this about ads on ad supported TV (39%, down from 46% in 2022) and websites (40%).
• More so than ads in other types of media, magazine readers are more likely to say that they pay attention to or notice ads (37% more likely); that ads fit well with the content (33% more likely); products/services advertised are high-quality; and has ads about things they care about (both 31% more likely).

The Magazine Supplement is available exclusively to Alliance members on its website here (member login required). Advertisers and others who are not Alliance members who are interested in obtaining a copy of the report can request it here.

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Media Contact:
Jessica Felix-Romero
Director Communications
[email protected]

The News/Media Alliance is a nonprofit organization representing more than 2,200 news and magazine media organizations and their multiplatform businesses in the United States and globally. Alliance members include print and digital publishers of original journalism. Headquartered just outside Washington, D.C., the association focuses on ensuring the future of journalism through communication, research, advocacy, and innovation. Information about the News/Media Alliance can be found at www.newsmediaalliance.org.

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