Industrial Context

 Time line of magazines 

In 1732 bookseller Edward Cave first used the term ‘magazine’.  Arguably the ‘fashion magazine’ started in France under Louis XIV.  The Mercure Galant featured illustrated plates recording what was being worn by the aristocracy – a useful source of information for dressmakers outside the court.

During the Georgian era retail therapy accelerated and lavishly illustrated magazines targeted specifically at women began to be mass published.  Fashion plates were bigger with detailed descriptions.  Advertising revenue could fund higher quality reproduction and new styles of graphic illustrations. 

 The Ladies World was edited by Oscar Wilde and in 1886 he changed the name to Women’s World.  He believed that the content should be educational and include more fiction.  Cheaper publications included little fashion, with poor woodcut graphics.  In 1891 a fashion periodical called Forget Me Notaimed at working class women hit the shelves.

Advances in technology, printing, and paper-making in the 20th century resulted in an explosion of magazine production.  Fashion plates moved from woodcuts, engraving and lithographs to photography.  Periods of significant social change brought a flood of magazines.  Women’s magazines reflect radical social change - the birth of teenager was a new market to be tapped.

Financing the magazine 

When you buy a copy of any magazine at a newsstand, your financial contribution to the magazine itself is generally a very minute fraction of the magazines actual revenue. The primary source of funding for magazine publishing is not sales, but advertising. Typically in magazines there is close to 50% of adverts displayed in the copy itself leaving the other 50% to be content of the magazine. This has  started becoming an issue as there is now less editorial content within the magazine and is instead filled with ads of products and brands. 

Distribution

 There are around 55,000 retailers selling newspaper/ magazines in the UK, 60 per cent of which are independently owned. About 35,000 news-agents are significant stockists of magazines. On average, a wholesale operation will distribute titles to between 400 and 500 outlets.Most magazines are sent to retail outlets so there consumers can buy them easily.Magazines are distributed through a variety of methods, including wholesale distributors, retailers, subscriptions, and digital platforms. Wholesale distributors, such as WH Smith, Menzies Distribution, and Dawson News, play a key role in getting magazines to newsstands, bookstores, and other retail outlets. Digital distribution, including online subscriptions and digital editions, is also becoming increasingly popular. 

• Many magazines offer subscriptions, allowing readers to receive their issues directly through the mail.
• Digital editions and online subscriptions are increasingly popular ways to access magazines. 
• Publishers can offer their magazines through digital platforms, such as online stores or apps.

Audience Consumption

Due to the recent rise in technology print magazines have been falling in demand. Less and less print magazines have been in circulation and consumers are demanding more digital services. There are many ways to acquire a magazine (print or electronic), Most magazines are sold in retail stores where consumers can buy them from or you could sign up for a subscription and get them delivered to your house for a monthly fee. Most magazines also provide digital versions of their magazines that can be purchased online from either their website or app that provides the same content there would be on a print copy. 

Conde Nast 

Condé Nast Publications, Inc. (CNP) was founded with a particular vision to serve various niche markets, and has done so with magazines devoted to many age groups, lifestyles, and appetites. While some have called this strategy pure genius, others have termed it pretentious. Nevertheless, the Condé Nast name stands for high-caliber periodicals devoted to their audiences, be they the cosmopolitan sophisticates who read Vanity Fair, House & Garden, Condé Nast's Traveler, or the New Yorker; the fashionistas who adoreVogue and Glamour; the young women devoted to Teen Vogue, Mademoiselle, Bride's, andModern Bride; the gentlemen who buy GQ or Wired; or the epicureans who enjoy Bon Appétit and Gourmet. Beautiful, relevant, and sometimes irreverent, Condé Nast Publications has long set the standard for quality and attitude.

Vogue magazine served as the early testing ground for what Nast called a "class publication" and he developed an entire business theory based on the belief that certain types of people, when offered a publication tailored to their class and particular needs, would then create a sizable and enduring market. Vogue was first published in 1892 as a weekly journal of society and fashion news interspersed with verse and lightly humorous drawings. Nast bought the magazine in 1909 with the intention of upgrading it and became its active owner and manager.

Key Dates:
1873: Condé Nast is born. 
1892: Fashion magazine Vogue is first published. 
1909: Condé Nast buys Vogue and begins his publishing venture. 
1911: Nast buys an interest in House & Garden.
1914: Nast launches Vanity Fair magazine. 
1922: Condé Nast Publications (CNP) is incorporated. 
1936: Vogue and Vanity Fair are merged. 
1939: Glamour magazine debuts in the United States. 
1942: Nast dies. 
1959: S.I. Newhouse, Sr., newspaper magnate, buys CNP. 
1979: Newhouse, Sr., dies and sons Si and Donald take over CNP and parent company Advance Publications Inc. 
1983: Vanity Fair is reborn. 
1988: CNP acquires Details magazine. 
1993: CNP buys Bon Appétit and Architectural Digest; House & Garden is shuttered. 
1995: House & Garden is relaunched for a younger female audience. 
1999: New CNP headquarters at Times Square is completed, with a Frank Gehry cafeteria. 
2001: CNP buys a majority stake in Ideas Publishing Group and launches Lucky shopping magazine. 
2002: Modern Bride joins Bride's in the CNP bridal group. 
2003: Plans for Cargo, the male version of Lucky, are announced.