SCHOOL OF SOCIOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURSE: 2385 SOCIOLOGY MA SUBJECT: SOC18050 MA (HONS) THESIS SOCIOLOGY SUBMITTED: 1992
TOPIC: MEDIA SEGMENTATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S MAGAZINE SECTOR
SUBMITTED BY: CATHERINE FOX UNIVERSITY Or N.S.V7. 1 3 AUG 1933 LIBRARIES ABSTRACT
The thesis analyses the recent trend to segmentation or specialisation of the media through detailed examination of the Australian women's magazine sector. This sector provides a particularly clear example of the increase in segmented media, purportedly appealing to 'niche' groups rather than a mass market. The thesis examines the development of segmentation and analyses the contradiction between the claimed specialisation of content in the media, and the apparent lack of increased diversity of content in segmented mediums. The central argument of the study challenges existing theoretical approaches to segmentation by claiming that despite a broad lack of diversity in the supposedly specialised women's magazines launched in the last few years, some broadening of content is evident in women's magazines. The thesis also seeks to define reasons for the continued popularity and expansion of women's magazines in Australia, despite increased competition and economic recession. The thesis is organised in several sections: 1. Examines existing theoretical approaches to segmentation, mainly through analysis of the political economy of the media, and specific analysis of women's magazines, which claim that segmentation generally results in little diversity of content in the media and reproduces existing content formulas and images. 2. Traces the emergence of the women's magazine form and the development of segmentation in the Australian market during the last decade. 3. Detailed analysis of the role of the advertising industry in the production of women's magazines and the emergence of segmentation. 4. Content analysis of three recently launched 'niche' women's magazines, and compares this with a 'traditional', mass market, magazine. 5. The conclusion draws together the findings of the study within a theoretical framework to support the central argument that some diversity has arisen in the sector, despite overt adherence to an established 'women's magazine' content formula. CONTENT
CHAPTER PAGE
Introduction and synopsis 2
1. Theoretical perspective and approach 14
2. Political economy of the Australian women's magazine market - rise of segmentation in women's magazines a. Emergence of the women's magazine form 35 b. Growth of segmentation in the 1980's/90's in Australia 54 3. Political economy of the women's magazine market - the role of advertising 67
4. Content analysis 95
5. Conclusion 117
APPENDICES
1 Magazine circulations - Audit Bureau of Circulations 2 Advertising spending - B&T 3 Content analysis - research methods 4 Bibliography
1 INTRODUCTION
This thesis is concerned with the definition and analysis of the trend towards media segmentation in Australian women's magazines, particularly in the last decade. It seeks to analyse and define media segmentation in relation to the women's magazine sector. This is approached primarily through an analysis of the political economy of the Australian media in order to establish the context in which segmentation developed. The segmentation or specialisation of media products can be broadly defined as a process that tailors mediums such as magazines, newspapers and television programs for specific audience groups, rather than for a mass audience or market. It is a process which has grown rapidly in the last twenty years in apparent contrast to the previous proliferation of mediums catering to a mass audience. Detailed analysis of specific examples of segmented or niche Australian women's magazines has been undertaken to provide both a practical framework for defining the process, and to establish the nature of any changes the new publications have undergone when compared to traditional mass market women's magazines.
Central Argument
The main argument developed in the following chapters is an original claim that builds on, and in part contradicts, an existing paradigm in the analysis of
2 media segmentation. This paradigm stipulates that while segmentation in the media is a process concerned with specialisation of content, and thus ostensibly greater diversity of material, there has generally been a marked lack of diversity in the new 'niche' mediums. However, this thesis will argue that despite this general lack of diversity, a seemingly contradictory, and limited trend, has emerged whereby recently launched niche women's magazines have in fact developed a new, often inconsistent and confused, range of content and images. Ironically, this limited diversity of content appears to have emerged despite the efforts of publishers, not because of them. It will be argued that the broad lack of diversity in specialist magazines is the result of inertia and cost saving by media groups, while the introduction of a narrow range of 'new' content has emerged partly because of a paucity of coherent women's images and role models to replace traditional images, a continued friction between the economic and production forces involved in magazine publishing and the changes in women's position in society, and as a mainly token effort by (generally female) editorial staff towards addressing a new or specialised market. This argument does not contradict the contention that there is a broad lack of diversity/specialist content in the new magazines. The study shows that this lack is
3 evident in the 'style', marketing and appearance of the new publications, as well as in the general editorial formula and advertising content. It is also evident despite extensive and sophisticated promotion of the publications as innovative and distinct from traditional 'mass audience' women's magazines (such as the Australian Women's Weekly). This supposed specialisation in content is the key element in launching each new 'niche' publication and marketing it to a particular audience. Ironically, this promotion has used a mass market approach, while claiming to be highly targeted and aimed at a specific group. However, the results of this study indicate that there have been specific developments in women's magazines in Australia that do not comply with existing analysis of media segmentation. It will be claimed that the emergence of some limited diversity of content is part of the particular development of segmentation in the Australian women's magazine market, which has seen the sector grow considerably and return high levels of profits to media owners. The choice of the area of study was initially prompted by the apparent and relatively unchallenged contradiction between the increasing number of women's magazines to emerge in recent years, despite economic recession, which were promoted as catering to the interests of specialist groups, while appearing to emulate existing publications.
4 However, further specific analysis of these publications revealed that some diversity in the new magazine's content has emerged, often in an apparently haphazard development rather than complying with criteria set by publishers. A study of the development of segmentation in the women's magazine market must take into account the special nature of this market, in the depiction and segregation of "women's issues" and the key role of women as consumers. This study aims to establish the reasons segmentation has been so successfully applied to the women's magazine market, which is a highly profitable sector of the Australian media.
Critical Approach
The study has been critically approached broadly through analysis of the political economy of the media, using analysis of the patterns of media ownership, technological development and advertising as a means of locating and defining the segmentation trend. This approach is defined in Chapter 1, and has been deliberately chosen as an alternative to semiotic and structuralist approaches to such mediums as women's magazines, which have tended to concentrate on decoding images of women in advertising and editorial. This approach would appear to have a less fruitful application
5 to the causes of segmentation, which is inextricably linked to the economics of the media and the link between capital, mass media and the growth of mass consumption. In addition, little analysis of segmentation in this context has been undertaken, certainly in Australia, and the approach provides an appropriate base for study of such an economic trend. However, this approach does not exclude interpretation of the images and women's roles presented in the niche magazines. It provides a different avenue to explore the phenomenon and a context within which to determine the recent nature of, and changes to, mass media images of women. Chapter 2 provides an historical framework to trace the development of several central economic trends, such as concentration of media ownership and internationalisation of the media which are key to the emergence of segmentation. Chapter 3 concentrates on the development of mass consumption, and the role of the advertising industry in the rise of segmentation. In addition to analysis based on political economy of the media, Chapter 4 provides detailed textual analysis of three niche magazines. The final chapter draws the findings together to present a conclusion on the growth and role of segmentation in the women's magazine industry.
As mentioned, the analysis of media segmentation has not been attempted in any detailed manner in Australia, and
6 only in selected publications internationally. In particular, detailed analysis of the increasing specialisation of women's magazines in this country over the last few years has been neglected. This dearth of work means that much of the following analysis and conclusions makes up an original body of work, based on sources for the women's magazine sector such as Bill Bonney and Helen Wilson (Australia), Marjorie Ferguson (UK), Kathryn Weibel (US), and on the political economy of the media, Raymond Williams (UK), Nicholas Garnham (UK), and Stuart Ewen.
Theoretical Resources
1.Bodies of Work The main bodies of work relied on include recent political economy writings on the media including historical and analytical examinations of media ownership, internationalisation, application of new technology, distribution systems and marketing approaches. Another main area of theory referred to is the political economy approach to the development of mass consumerism and the advertising industry, its operations, structure and ownership.
Finally, there is a limited body of theory on women's magazines, consisting of mainly British and American
7 writings on the sector as a whole, its history and development. (There are some Australian references, with the most comprehensive being Bill Bonney and Helen Wilson’s analysis in ’’Australia’s Commercial Media”). Unfortunately, most of the work, which includes studies by Marjorie Ferguson and Kathryn Weibel, is generally dated and although useful for broad trends, outlines a magazine sector that differs significantly from the Australian context. Sources used for analysis of segmentation generally include work by Raymond Williams, Anthony Smith, Stuart Hall, Bill Bonney and Helen Wilson, Jeremy Tunstall, and Stuart Ewen. As mentioned above, because of a general paucity of material on women's magazines, and on Australian magazines in particular, the work by Bonney & Wilson features prominently in analysis of the Australian magazine industry.
2.Existing Paradigm The reference works outlined above generally establish that media segmentation is a marketing lever employed by large media organisations in an attempt to maximise audiences for their products. As such, segmentation is the result of economic pressures on media conglomerates, which tend to dominate the sector, including production facilities, distribution channels and new technology.
8 These economic pressures are analysed within the context of commercial media operations in the late twentieth century, using an historical framework to establish reasons for the development of such trends. The conclusions reached by many of these writers is that segmentation not only fails to fulfil its commercial claims to greater specialisation of content, it actually provides ’more of the same' for consumers, thus narrowing choices. This is typically examined as a part of the process by which capitalist media conglomerates increasingly dominate the means of production of mass communication, its distribution, new technological developments and distribution channels, both nationally and internationally. Few of these works examine the process of segmentation in application to specific mediums, and certainly not in reference to women’s magazines. The body of work specifically concerning women's magazines tends to concentrate on the historical development of the medium within the context of the social and cultural metamorphosis of women's status. Segmentation is defined by Ferguson and Weibel, but is examined in terms of the magazine industry in the UK and UK respectively around ten to fifteen years ago. Segmentation is considered in similar terms to the previously cited writers, that is, as a primarily financial response to commercial and economic pressure to
9 enhance revenue, but resulting in little diversity of content. The process is also analysed in terms of local performance, so that in the UK where niche publications for women have been far less successful than Australia, the process is defined and analysed in those terms.
3.Content Analysis The study presents a detailed content analysis of three niche women's magazines, all of which were launched in Australia during the last three years. The content formula of each publication has been outlined, with analysis of editorial content components, and a breakdown of each category of display advertising. The method used for this analysis is the tracing of production values from the editorial and advertising text of the magazines, comparable to the content analysis used by Raymond Williams in determining the proportions of space and time given to different categories of material in several mediums. The study of magazine content also uses Williams' method of following the measurement of certain categories with analysis of style and content and a comparative survey of the publications (see "Content" chapter in "Communications", Williams, R, Pelican, 1966). This format includes an examination of the general women's roles/images utilised in the magazines and of the cover composition of each publication.
10 The study is divided into several chapters:
1.THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE AND APPROACH
The process of segmentation is defined within a critical
framework of existing theories and analysis of
segmentation in the mass media. The chapter also addresses the more specific area of magazine publishing as a component of large media conglomerates. The
increasing use of media segmentation in women’s publications is analysed with reference to the sparse amount of theoretical information available on the area
(see critical approach).
The chapter also specifically relates the definition of segmentation to specific niche magazine examples, and highlights the contradictions inherent in a)the promise of diversity by the new publications and the ’sameness’ of the general content, and b)the struggle to reconcile the rare examples of 'new' or 'diverse' content with a rigid and basically traditional magazine format.
2. POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S MAGAZINE
MARKET: the rise of media segmentation
An historical analysis of the development of women's magazines as a distinct medium and the rise of niche
11 magazines from the late 1960's. The outline includes the changing patterns of media ownership in Australia, increasing concentration and globalisation, developments in production and distribution of magazines during the last century. These changes are linked to the related changes in content, style and consumption of women's magazines. The section concludes with a detailed analysis of the rapid growth in segmentation in Australian women's magazines during the last ten years.
3. POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S MAGAZINE MARKET: the role of advertising
This chapter further analyses the links between the economic forces governing the mass magazine market, and examines the crucial role of the advertising industry in determining and sustaining new women's magazines. This analysis is conducted in the context of the political economy of the mass media in Australia, and the relation between capital, technology and cultural products. The analysis traces the history of the advertising industry in Australia, its origins, globalisation, size and method of operation. The nexus between media, advertising and market research is examined, and the link between the economic forces
12 operating in the women's magazine market and the nature and content of the new niche magazines is analysed.
4. CONTENT ANALYSIS
This chapter focuses on three recently launched niche publications for women, in order to provide specific information on the profile, packaging, marketing and content of these publications. Profile details of each magazine, including the editorial content formula and an analysis of advertising content, is covered. This information is then analysed, and used to compare the new magazines to traditional mass women's magazines.
5. CONCLUSION
The chapter draws together the evidence and critical theory on segmentation to substantiate the central argument concerning diversity within niche magazines. The evidence is also applied to the Australian magazine sector to establish an emerging pattern in women's magazine publishing and the implications for future development of the sector.
13 CHAPTER 1
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE AND APPROACH
This chapter critically examines theoretical approaches to media segmentation within a political economy context, and specific studies of the process in the women's magazine sector. The chapter then outlines the approach adopted in this study to researching and examining the central argument, including the theoretical perspective and methodology used.
Media Segmentation - the Orthodox Paradigm
The move to specialise or segment media products such as magazines has been analysed by several media writers, generally within a framework that analyses the political economy of the media.
Much of this analysis attributes the development of segmentation to certain economic factors and pressures operating in the mass media environment of the late twentieth century. The main factors, which relate particularly to Australia, are identified as:
* increasing concentration of media ownership
* intensifying competition for media markets
* introduction of new technology
* maximization of existing markets
* efficiency of distribution channels
14 The broad definitions of segmentation analysed in this chapter concentrate on a process which operates on a clearly economic/commercial basis. Segmentation, according to these sources, is a process to extract further growth for mainly large media conglomerates via enhanced advertising revenue with the lowest possible capital outlay. Interestingly, however, the segmentation process is generally not analysed beyond these fairly broad terms. The actual results of segmentation in specific mediums is rarely examined (an exception is Anthony Smith’s analysis of specialisation in newspapers1). The result of such examinations of segmentation is a narrow definition which lacks specificity. While offering some important analysis of broad trends emerging in the political economy of the media, particularly in terms of new technology, new market development and increasing globalisation, much of this work ignores some important elements of segmentation which do not fit within the parameters of these commercial trends. The following overview provides a summary of the general theoretical direction taken by writers on segmentation. This is followed by a critique of this body of work which identifies some inadequacies in terms of a more detailed examination of segmentation and its application to the Australian women's magazine sector.
15 John Hartley has defined three long-term trends in the commercial media: concentration, diversification and multi-nationalisation2. In particular, diversification "has produced a bewildering network of interlocking interests ultimately owned by the same firm"3. As outlined in Chapter 2, in Australia a handful of large media groups dominate the media industry. Hartley points out that large media groups are constantly searching for ways of maintaining and increasing profitability, to enable them to compete. When saturation is reached in one market, it is necessary to look for other avenues. This is a trend particularly evident in the magazine publishing field in Australia, where a group such as Australian Consolidated Press dominates the sector and is thus constantly seeking to expand its market within a given medium. However Hartley stresses that because the media is owned by commercially driven organisations, it does not necessarily follow that these groups simply reproduce the "ideas and ideology of those who own them, or of those who count in the commercial world at large... ideas and ideology play second fiddle to a more imperative commercial dictate, namely financial survival"^ . This is a key element in the development of techniques such as segmentation, where the content of the new "niche" media products are determined by identification
16 of a new market - usually a specific group within an existing market. Ian Reinecke^, believes the move to more specialised media output is linked to the maturing of the large media groups, and the recognition that growth could no longer be maintained by simply selling more mass appeal newspapers or other publications. This is particularly obvious with the large Australian or Australian based media companies such as the Murdoch empire, which has resulted in the majority of Australia's daily newspapers being "integrated into Murdoch's global media structure"6. The tailoring of mediums such as magazines to special or niche groups has resulted from the increased pressure of rising costs for printing, production and distribution. And the aim of publishing has "changed from simply selling papers to selling them to the right people... those whom advertisers are seeking to influence"?. Segmentation is particularly evident in the magazine sector, and according to Reinecke, "magazine publishing has taken to its logical conclusion the strategy of satisfying advertisers at the expense of diversity of opinion"8.
Magazines are specifically targeted, but only to the groups that are attractive to advertisers. New technology that allows the computerisation of mailing lists,
17 manipulation of databases of names and matching of certain groups with the "profile" of a new publication, has meant the "magazine publishers can market their publications to those whom their advertisers most want to reach"9.
The result is generally less diversity of material in magazines, rather than more. The trend is to "a more specialised and customised form of magazine publishing where ideas extraneous to the process of consumption are excluded"10 Nicholas Garnham also explores the effect of concentration of media ownership on the media and the resultant search for "higher productivity in the form, above all, of audience maximization"11 . Introducing new technology is a result of the desire to lower costs, not to create better communication or broader information selections. The creation of an "Information Society" is an attempt to solve economic problems and to develop a range of new markets for information goods and services. Again, this analysis highlights the development of new markets as a response to an economic need to ensure survival through new audiences/consumers, and not vice versa. Change is not technology or information led, it is a means by which a media group can enhance its financial performance.
18 Herbert Schiller argues that new technology, which plays a central role in the production and distribution of media, does not just develop out of thin air. "It is encouraged by the prevailing social system and moreover, is integrated into that system, usually to achieve the objectives of the dominant elements already commanding the social scene" Smith claims that the roots of segmentation in the media can be linked to "growth of specialisation in jobs (which) has contributed to the creation of thousands of sub-groups"13 making up potential markets for segmented mediums. This was particularly accentuated during the 1960's, when there was "a general and increased expectation of personal freedoms...making possible wholly new brands of journalism dedicated to the various new life styles"*4. Further, there has been growth of manufactured goods to appeal to these sub-groups, rather than mass marketing of products. "A new generation of magazine publishers has successfully translated this process of social differentiation into the print medium"*5. Smith also claims that the specialised media is able to "hold sway over the general interest magazines and publishers have pursued every fad and fashion that might help to deliver some new group and render it available for specialist advertising"^. The pursuit of specialist audiences has not been at the expense of advertising revenue as "new techniques of
19 marketing and market analysis allied with new technology of production are helping to maintain the economies of scale of mass production while acquiring the additional advantages of market segmentation”^. Smith also explores the social and technological changes in newspaper production, and how computerisation has enabled newspapers to achieve the "ever more precise pinpointing of tiny pockets of readers with specialist interests" . Newspapers have become more computerised, in an effort to compete with the electronic media, and the "increased spending power of most Americans... has made these extensions worthwhile'19. Smith concludes that the "sharp end of the newspaper is no longer editorial singularity but marketing efficiency"20.
These changes have locked newspapers and other mediums into "patterns of advertising and distribution that make large quantities of information available to small elites"^!, Smith says. While that information is "much more substantial and perhaps better than ever before", the danger is that groups which "do not demand to be
informed ...are now much more completely cut off"22.
Marjorie Ferguson presents a more detailed analysis of segmentation in women's magazines, She defines specialisation in the women's magazine sector as a "relatively elastic concept where subject matter
20 duplication rather than editorial differentiation is the norm"23.
Ferguson claims the trend to specialisation has created some new specific interest publications, but there is a "sameness" in a great deal of the content used. This similarity "also reflects the wariness of publishers who have counted the cost of commercial failure of determinedly 'new' publications"24.
She points out that ironically, in the UK the most commercially successful publications for women during the so-called decade of women's liberation, the 1970's, were those which were centred on cookery and the home25.
Since the 1960's, when specialisation became popular, the specialised monthly magazines in the UK have taken moves towards sharper targeting, and then more diffuse, in their content and promotional style, according to Ferguson. The move to niche marketing is at least partly due to the advent of marketing experts, who treated magazines like any other product and applied similar principles in the process of increasing sales. This has resulted in adherence to traditional content formulas as a kind of safety net for attracting wider readership and the most advertising revenue, while promoting 'specialist' features. Despite this similarity in content, the right of consumers to choose from among what is offered in the media is still in existence. But according to Stuart
21 Hall, the consumer choice is not a "choice which noticeably expands the mind or diversifies to any significant degree the range of opinions allowed to circulate publicly"26.
The notion of segmentation according to these writers is essentially a marketing lever, serving clearly commercial goals. It is thus less a way of giving people "what they want" or more information, but a tool for generating greater income from an apparently finite market place. In economic terms, segmentation represents a move by organisations which are competing in markets where consumption has reached a highly developed stage, and have recognised a need for further diversification. This diversification, however, has to be commercially viable which has meant a tendency to diversify within existing mediums to achieve economies of scale and generate profits. Existing Definitions of Segmentation in the Women's Magazine Sector
The process of segmentation in the women’s magazine sector is generally considered to have begun after WWII, when changes in society, women’s position, mass production and consumption, and of course media ownership, led to an explosion of titles.
In Britain the 1960's saw fundamental changes in the structure of supply and demand for women’s magazines^7.
22 The 1960's saw a large number of new women's magazines launched in the UK, a move related to wider trends of media specialisation. Publishers and editors defined target groups, generally using demographic material, and divisions such as age and class in the UK at this time. But despite the proliferation of titles, and the success of some specialised publications, there has been falling demand for women's magazines in Britain^. In the United States^# the specialisation of women's magazines has been linked to the economic need for publishers to deliver advertisers the appropriate readers/consumers. The introduction of more diverse images of women (Weibel concentrates on images of women in popular culture) has done little to change the traditional pattern of 'passive' females "seeking traditional, dependent relationships with men"30. In Australia, segmentation of the women's magazine sector also became evident during the late 1950's and early 1960's when new magazines, such as teenage publication Dolly, and Belle, were launched (see Chapter 2). According to Bonney & Wilson, the development of "new image local publications in the 1970's"31 can be traced to the failure of more traditional and broader appeal magazines to sustain high circulations, and of course, high advertising revenues. The combination of this failure, along with "increasing participation of women in the paid workforce, the rise of
23 the women's movement, technological change in the printing industry and the success of imported glossy magazines"32 led to further segmentation of the medium.
The difficulties inherent in maintaining high readerships to offset expensive production costs, but at the same time appeal to the "right" segments,ie. those that are optimum consumers, has created a major dilemma for the industry, as Bonney & Wilson have pointed out in a study of Australian women's magazines. They stress that segments do not just 'exist', but are created by marketers, publishers and advertisers in an attempt to label a group of consumers. The process of segmentation involves a coherent and structured system which breaks up or categorises target markets. This system is far from a 'natural' division of population groups, and therefore does not aim to accurately reflect social conditions.
Approach to the Analysis of Recent Australian Niche Women's Magazines According to many of these sources, the women's magazine industry in particular has gradually moved away from the concept of mass market publishing as declining or stagnating circulations indicated that a mass appeal format had reached saturation level with readers and/or was no longer delivering the profits it had in the past, and new markets were sought.
24 In addition to these problems in the sector, the wider competition from other mediums, such as television, radio, and video meant that a new approach became necessary to either retain or increase the market and its buying power. However, in approaching an analysis of segmentation in the Australian women's magazine sector, this study challenges several of the established theoretical perspectives outlined in this chapter. In particular, it challenges the notion that there has been an increasing lack of diversity and narrowing of information in Australian women's niche magazines, by approaching the argument through detailed content analysis of three such magazines. In Australia during the last two decades a large number of niche women's magazines were launched, including Dolly, then Cleo, to be eventually followed by Portfolio, for the working woman, and in recent years, ITA, ELLE, and New Woman. Each of the latter three magazines are analysed in detail in this thesis. Specifically, the content formula is identified and analysed. It is evident from examining the content that the ingredients which are considered important to the success of a women's magazine, such as celebrity interviews, travel, recipes and beauty tips, are fundamental ingredients in these publications. However, further analysis, as shown in Chapter 4, will
25 reveal that a limited level of diversification has resulted from segmentation. This study examines whether some of this diversity is a result of increasing confusion over how women are portrayed and targeted by advertising. As Weibel points out, many mass magazines have targeted women because of their traditional home responsibilities. These home duties have made women, as a group, a crucial audience for consumer goods' advertising, which magazines have carried for most of this century. It will be argued that this home role is slowly fragmenting, which may have led to some of the confusion evident in magazine content. The sphere of influence women are now deemed to control has moved from home to self, with cosmetics, clothes and jewellery replacing the older displays of vacuums and cleaning products. As Chapter 4 shows, examination of editorial content is crucial to the diversity argument. The inclusion of articles on women's health, including control over fertility and the right to question child birth techniques, are examples of a move away from traditional content in the new niche magazines. Contradictions occur with the publication of articles that take issue with eating disorders suffered by many women while other editorial material includes diets or reinforces thin models as stereotypes.
26 This study, using such content analysis, argues that segmentation in Australian women's magazines appears to have resulted in some openings for messages which had no avenues for publication in the past.
As Naomi Wolfe has concluded^, magazines are an
important and rare channel of communication for women. The magazines "represent something very important: women's mass culture"34.
This examination seeks to establish that while segmentation has not changed the packaging and style of many of these magazines, it has, as a concomitant of its aim to "diversify" and target new audiences, produced a contradictory mixture of traditional, financially 'safe' and viable, mass market formats with a new channel for messages addressing women's concerns. It is important to note, however, that while this dichotomy is opening up some new avenues of information it has not resulted in a vastly broader range of media options for a greatly increased audience. As Stuart Hall has pointed out, the notion of freedom of choice for consumers of the media still exists, within strict constraints. "As production costs soar beyond the reach of any but the largest multinationals, and as the conditions of competition become more monopolistic, each alternative tends more closely to resemble than to differ from the other".
27 "Yet, ideologically, the principle of market freedom has never been so well identified with diversity of opinion and variety of viewpoint, maximizing the range of experiences which get expressed". This results in new "definitions of social and political reality...produced afresh every day from the extremely narrow band of accounts from which these understandings of the world are stitched together"35.
Methodology and Approach
This study of media segmentation in women's magazines is based on research using original content analysis, theoretical appraisal, observation, and documentation. Research has included analysis of existing texts on the women's magazine sector, which are largely based on research which is five to ten years old, in addition to original research into the Australian women's magazine sector based on recent developments, particularly in the area of segmentation. As outlined in the introductory section, the content analysis has provided a framework for the study and its central argument concerning diversity within segmented magazines. This type of analysis has been used instead of a semiotic approach in order to attempt to identify the motives of the producers of these publications, rather than relying
28 on deconstruction of images of women which has been undertaken in several studies of women in advertising and the media. Deconstruction of such images has provided much useful groundwork in this field, but it would seem to provide a less appropriate form of analysis for an economically driven process such as segmentation than a broader breakdown of content and formula in niche magazines. The methodology adopted and the rationale for its use is similar to the framework outlined by Marjorie Ferguson, who employed content analysis in her study of women's magazines in the UK. She stipulates that such content analysis "implies three general assumptions: that valid inferences can be made between content and intended effect; that the study of manifest content is meaningful to communicator, audience and analyst... and that the frequency of occurrence of various content characteristics is in and of itself meaningful"36. Ferguson has used quantitative breakdown of content for further qualitative study, a method also employed in this study, where breakdown of the content formula and advertising categories has provided data for analysis of segmented women's magazines and the formulas used. It is also useful to note that this form of content analysis is a circular one, in that the categories defined for study are initially identified by qualitative
29 observation before a numerical assessment can be made, as
Ferguson has noted.
Williams has adopted a similar type of content analysis
in his study of newspapers^?. He measures categories of
content by the amount of space given to certain areas of
material, and then analyses style and presentation of
material in his survey of mass communication in Britain.
His conclusions, based on this numerical analysis,
identify the marked use of formulas in media products, which is also an important feature of the content
analysis employed in this study.
Approach to the Central Argument
Contrary to the existing theoretical perspectives on
segmentation, this study therefore presents a central
argument that segmentation in the women's magazine sector
and the inheritance of set formulas does not necessarily
inhibit or prevent the inclusion of content that is more diverse than traditional women's magazines, and may even challenge existing formulas in some areas.
The argument is supported by research based on detailed content analysis of three Australian niche magazines.
It is argued that this diversity of content is most
likely to be the side effect and not the aim of the segmentation process, but it certainly appears to have emerged, particularly in recent niche women's magazines.
30 Although segmentation of the women's magazine market appears to have inherited an established mode of dictating magazine content, the process has also resulted in images and content that extend beyond the parameters of 'acceptable' formats in mass market women's magazines. The following chapters explore the particular way that segmentation appears to operate in the women's magazine sector in Australia, taking into account several important factors relating to the sector. These distinguishing factors, some of which complement the economic forces operating in the mass media in general, include:
* the nature and power of women as a group of consumers, which has meant they are a highly desirable audience for advertisers and thus publishers * the historically very high level of consumption of women's magazines in Australia * the broad social and economic changes in the status of women, particularly over the last twenty years * the paucity of a central and coherent 'image' of women to replace models - such as the housewife of the 1950s - in magazine and advertising formats designed to accommodate such a central image * the confusion in both editorial and advertising content, partly as a result of this paucity, which has
31 resulted in a greater diversity of images in a basically traditional format.
In assessing existing theoretical approaches to segmentation, the effects of major political economy trends such as internationalisation of media groups and media products, the introduction of new technology and distribution systems, and intensified competition for market share, appear to continue to play a considerable role in the process of specialisation. As has been pointed out by several writers, segmentation is primarily a marketing lever, and little attempt has been made to diversify the formula of new niche publications, or provide true choice for readers, despite promotions that suggest this is the case. This has been mainly attributed the trends identified above, resulting in refusal to expend further capital on such changes and a reluctance on behalf of publishers and advertisers to do more than simply generate new versions of established, and successful, formulas. But contrary to these perspectives, many of which lack specific examination of mediums or are based on overseas examples, the following study will further argue that segmentation in Australian women's magazines has resulted in a limited amount of diversity. Some content that is not solely concerned with the process of consumption is
32 included, and may not conform to specific formulas or niche needs. This argument does not challenge the notion that segmentation is a method of enhancing financial performance for media groups, and would not have evolved unless it met such criteria. But it is argued that the process does not necessarily result in decreasing diversity for a diminishing number of elite consumers. The pattern outlined by several theoretical perspectives which establish that segmentation is solely marketing driven, and consciously employed by media groups to therefore include only marketing compatible information is also challenged. It will be argued that despite claims that niche products are available to a decreasing number of readers due to expense and choice, the enormous sales of Australian women's magazines would appear to contradict this analysis. The study therefore concentrates on establishing and defining why these disparities have occurred and how segmentation in this sector has departed and evolved from the existing paradigm.
1Smith, A (1980) Goodbye Gutenberg, (Oxford University Press) ^Hartley, J (1982) Understanding News (London: Methuen), p49 ^Ibid, p49 4Ibid, p48
33 ^Reinecke, I Information and the Poverty of Technology, in Wheelwright, T (1987) Communications and the Media in Australia (Allen & Unwin) ^Sinclair, J (1991) The Advertising Industry in Australia (Media Information Australia, No 62) 'Reinecke, op cit, p28 8Ibid, p30 9Ibid 10Ibid UGarnham, N ( 1983) Towards a Theory of Cultural Materialism, Journal of Communication, Summer, pl53 32Schiller, H (1976) Communications and Cultural Domination (Pantheon) p74 l^Smith, a, op cit, p 137 14Ibid 15Ibid 16Ibid, p 138 17Ibid, p 139 18Smith, A (1980) Newspapers and Democracy (the MIT Press), p40 19Ibid, p43 20Ibid 2llbid, p47 22Ibid 23Ferguson, M (1985) Forever Feminine (UK: Gower Publishing), p29 24Ibid, P168 25Ibid, p33 28Curran, J et al (1986) Bending Reality (Pluto) p8 27Ferguson, M, op cit, p26 28Ibid P27 29Weibel, K (1980) Mirror Mirror (Anchor) 30Ibid, pl68 3-^Bonney, W & Wilson, H (1983) Australia's Commercial Media (Macmillan) p253 32 Ibid 33Wolfe, N (1991) The Beauty Myth (Vintage) 34Ibid, p70 3^Hall, S, Media Power and Class Power, in Curran, J et al, (1986) Bending Reality (Pluto) p8 36perguson, op cit, p212 37Williams, R (1962) "Communications" (Pelican) Chapter 3
34 CHAPTER 2
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S MAGAZINES : THE RISE OF SEGMENTATION IN WOMEN'S MAGAZINES
This chapter outlines the history of women's magazines, the growth of mass media, mass production and consumption, and the emergence of the advertising industry.
Part A traces the history of women's magazines and mass markets up to the last decade, and Part B examines the trend to segment the market, and the accompanying growth in new titles over the last decade.
A. EMERGENCE OF THE WOMEN'S MAGAZINE FORM
Magazines catering for women have existed for almost three hundred years in Britain. The earliest magazines aimed to "improve the minds of their readers... educating as well as entertaining them"^.
The first women's magazines generally aimed at literate, and leisured women of the upper social classes, with a combination of fiction, household hints and fashion items. In the UK, this audience gradually embraced a broader resdership during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when magazines served the "wider interest of the middle class''^.
In Australia, magazines specifically written for women are recorded from the late nineteenth century. Although one of the first popular magazines produced in this
35 country was launched in 1855 ("The Melbourne Punch") there appears to have been few, if any, organised publications for women until at least a decade or so after this.
By the 1880's however several women's magazines were being published, generally by independent publishers and/or editors. The content of these magazines was generally similar to early English magazines, and also concerned with concerned household tips, short stories and the latest fashion items. "The Australian Woman" was launched in 1894,"New Idea" appeared in 1902, and "Women's Budget" in 1906. However, many did not survive. Along with a number of general interest magazines, most of the publications for women were short lived. This was generally due to shortage of funds, few workers with publishing skills, and because many of the magazines had little chance of attracting large readerships in a country of sparse and dispersed population. One magazine published at the time, and carefully targeted, was "Dawn - A Journal for the Australian Woman".
Founded in 1888 by Louisa Lawson, who the following year formed a social reform club for women, "Dawn" described itself as a "journal for the household, edited printed and published by women"3. The magazine continued to publish until 1905, although it was the
36 target of "vehement opposition" by members of the Typographical Union which objected to the use of female, non-union labour. Females were not, at the time, allowed to join the union^. While the content of "Dawn" was described as abrasively feminist, an unusual stance in those times, in a way it was typical of the manner in which many magazines were produced in the period - owned, written, printed and distributed by a small number of people, several of whom generally had some stake in the ownership of the publication.
Growth of a Women's Magazine Sector
As the turn of the century approached, major changes were under way in both the social conditions and the status of women, and in the economic fabric of Australia. It was an era of considerable change for women in Australia. Women were pressuring for the vote and suffrage societies formed. Women began to change their dress, took up sports, and to "question the restrictions placed on them"5. Newspapers and magazines "began to talk of the new woman who was modern, capable and independent, informed about affairs of the day, demanded political rights and education for women, and the right to earn her own
37 living"6. There were also more women in the paid work force than at any time before. At the same time, in Britain, magazines for women were burgeoning. Between 1880 and 1900, 48 journals were launched^. The growth was not isolated, but came with a general expansion of the popular press and the introduction of new technology that meant faster and cheaper printing. Development of the railway as a distribution system and the growth of the middle class had a great deal to do with the expansion of the press at this time. The audience for these publications was deliberately broader than their predecessors, with the plethora of magazines launched for "middle class females preoccupied
with the concerns of self, family and home"8. Although the pattern was to be repeated, to an extent, in Australia, it was at a later date, perhaps mainly due to lack of developed transport and slower development of print technology, combined with the difficulties of establishing magazines for women in a small and still colonial society. Anne Summers refers to changes at this time as a "radical reappraisal" of the women's role starting in the 1880's and ending around the time of the First
World War^. During the 1880's "large numbers of women had moved into the work force as the State Public Services opened a range of commercial employment to
38 women"10. Universities were now opened to women. However the move into employment outside the home slowed considerably after this burst, and the focus on family grew stronger even as these early feminists pressured for women's rights. Up to this stage (turn of the century) Australian magazine publishing had been characterised by a pattern of owner/writers of the day, who had founded publications as vehicles for fiction and topical writing. This included writers such as Henry Kendall, Marcus Clark and Norman Lindsay. It is perhaps unsurprising that women were not well represented as either readers or writers in magazine publishing in this climate, as they generally had little chance of literary recognition or access to economic resources in order to establish magazines or buy them. Audiences for these small scale women's magazines were necessarily limited and made up of literate, upper middle class readers. Vane Lindesay11 claims that most Australian magazines published last century, and well into this one, "catered for all-male interests"12. Aside from the few magazines, such as those outlined earlier, which catered for women alone, concessions were made by publications such as "The Australian Journal" (1865-1962) which was described as a magazine
39 of popular short stories written by Australian men and women for men and women readers. One magazine that survived many decades and was aimed specifically at women was the "Australian Woman's Mirror". The magazine was launched in 1924 as a weekly publication and was produced by "The Bulletin" - which was published from 1880 by partners J.F.Archibald and John Haynes. (The men had established the "Bulletin" magazine with little capital and struggled to continue publishing during the early years, surviving on contributions. It was eventually bought by Consolidated Press in 1960). The "Australian Woman's Mirror" was aimed at Australian housewives and had a "strong emphasis on the domestic sciences - recipes, money-saving household hints, gardening, making clothes"13. The magazine also published short stories by Australian authors. It eventually went "the way of several publications following World War II "14 and closed. Several other women's magazines were introduced in the same era, around the First World War, including "The Australian Woman", "Everylady's Journal" (1917), "Woman's World" (1922) and "The Home"(1926).
Growth of the Mass Market
The fundamental wave of change in the social status of
40 women combined with the introduction of new technology in print production in Australia, such as steam-driven printing presses, altered the nature of magazine publishing for women from early this century. With the new technology came increasing costs and the need to achieve economies of scale. Advertising revenue was needed to keep publishers afloat and to fund expansion (see advertising section, Chapter 2). Women's magazine readers now included working class women, "who were invited to share the messages previously reserved for middle-class females"-^.
There was little future for the time consuming and often primitive production style of earlier magazines. The most significant change, which arose hand in hand with these trends, however, was the growth of display advertising as a means of producing income for publishers. Stuart Ewen links the movement to higher wages in the 1920's and a "general strategy to consumerize the worker"^. This early stage of modern advertising was a response to the needs of mass industrial capitalism. In the US between 1900 and 1930, national advertising revenues grew from US$200 million to $2.6 billion, and "it was the periodicals, both the dailies and others, which acted as a major vehicle for this growth"1'. In Britain the birth of a mass market in the area of women's magazines dated from around 1930, with the new
41 generation of women's weeklies "directed at a wider class audience, aiming for mass circulations, their progress... aided by the good quality, cheap printing technology and the advantages of photogravure over letterpress". It was also at this time that changes in the ownership of Australian media resulted in a more concentrated ownership pattern (see below). In Australia the monopolisation of manufacturing began in the 1890's, but developed much later in the rural sector, according to Bonney and Wilson^. They trace the growth of monopoly capitalism and the effect on the media, with the pressure for increased productivity, usually via more efficient technology, and the resultant moves towards diversification into different mediums and businesses. The effect has been, in Australia, to eventually end up with several large media groups which are highly integrated and survive through "commoditising"20 media audiences.
The need to introduce new technology in printing, the advantages of economies of scale and the lure of advertising dollars all led to pressure for growth and in turn, improved profit from Australian media companies. Small enterprises had no way of competing with larger media groups, with many being subsumed or forced out of business. Even as early as the 1880's the "major press proprietors were established and their papers were mass
42 marketed, cheap to buy and financed mainly by advertising"21.
Meanwhile advertising had also become an independent business. The move to more sophisticated display advertising, a step beyond classified advertising, had brought about the advent of advertising agencies which handled the increased business (classified advertising was, and still is, usually handled by the publication itself). In Australia the fledgling industry took its lead from the US, where such advertising really began, but it was not until the 1930's that large American agencies began to enter the Australian market. Bonney and Wilson trace this entry to the period following the boom, and subsequent bust, in the 1920's of many local agencies. J Walter Thompson opened its agency here in 1931, and many other multinational agencies now have subsidiaries in Australia. These agencies, through specialist media buyers, work with the large media groups to package and sell advertising space. Before turning in more detail to how the women's magazine sector developed through the 1930's, it is worthwhile to briefly track the rise of Australia's major media groups, which were all established or consolidated their positions during the early to mid-twentieth century.
The Development of Australia's Manor Media Groups
43 Sir Hugh Denison's Associated Newspapers was one of the first major media groups to emerge, building its interests during the 1910 to 1920 period. His media interests were decimated by a battle for supremacy of the Melbourne market in the late 1920's, with the Melbourne Herald group, headed by Keith Murdoch. The Herald group eventually dominated the Melbourne print media and went on to take over the Adelaide "Advertiser" and the Queensland "Courier-Mail". Denison had some success in Sydney with the launch of the popular "Sun" in 1910 but by 1936, when Consolidated Press took over the Daily Telegraph, his empire was waning. Meanwhile Keith Murdoch had built up a substantial media company through the Herald and Weekly Times group, which had newspapers in every state except NSW. His son, Rupert Murdoch bought the Sydney newspaper the "Daily Mirror" in 1960, established "The Australian" in 1964, and bought the "Daily Telegraph" and "Sunday Telegraph" from Consolidated Press in 1972. Murdoch junior's eventual expansion of his father's empire into an international media organisation has been well documented, and the group now extends worldwide. The Fairfax group was Australia's oldest continuous newspaper publisher until the company went into
44 receivership late in 1990. It was founded in the raid 1800's by John Fairfax, who became "sole owner of the "Sydney Morning Herald" in
1852"22, it was a family company until 1952, when the company went public and began to expand by taking over Associated Newspapers in 1953. It went on to launch several new papers in post-WWII decades, such as the "Australian Financial Review" and the "National Times", as well as expanding its magazine and television interests. The failed privatisation of the company by Warwick Fairfax, which led to the receivership, also resulted in the company shedding its magazine interests, which were bought by Kerry Packer. Frank Packer's media interest were built up "through a series of mysterious deals in the early 1930's"23, The machinations outlined earlier in the establishment of Consolidated Press led to Packer senior, and later, Kerry Packer's, successful hold on the magazine market in Australia. The increasing concentration of media ownership is a phenomenon which is not restricted to Australia, as the UK and US have undergone similar upheavals. One of the many effects of the movement to fewer owners is a decrease in actual publications as the media empires rationalise their titles. One of the few areas that this has not applied to is magazines. While very few new newspapers have been established in Australia in the
45 last few decades, the magazine market has grown significantly in its quest for new markets via segments or niches.
The Era of The Australian Women's Weekly
Against the backdrop of increased concentration of media ownership and rapidly changing technology in the area of publishing, plus the rise of mass consumer markets, came the launch of what is generally considered to be Australia's most popular women's magazine, The Australian Women's Weekly. The Weekly was first produced just three years before the formation of what was to become one of Australia's largest media conglomerates - Consolidated Press. Introduced in 1933, the magazine was the product of an association between Frank Packer and E.G. Theodore, former Federal treasurer under the recently defeated Labour Government. According to Humphrey McQueen^,
the pair had been paid 172,000 pounds for promising Sydney media owner, Sir Hugh Denison, not to start a competing afternoon paper in Sydney for the period of seven years. The money was put into "Fiji goldmines, some into Denison's company, and some into the production of the Australian Women's Weekly'25#
The first issue of the Weekly sold 120,000 copies and following the introduction of colour covers in 1934,
46 and a first colour issue in 1936, circulation was climbing - 450,000 in 1939 and 650,000 in 1945. While Vane Lindesay claims that the Weekly was "established as a means of keeping an idle press working rather than as a planned profit earner"26# it was quickly established as the highest circulation magazine for women in Australia. The magazine was targeted at a boad cross section of women, with a manifesto that promised to provide women with information and help in domestic social and business life27.
The magazine is also considered to occupy a position of "unique cultural and political importance"28 in Australia. The Weekly was already successful enough three years after its launch to prompt Sir Hugh Denison to go into partnership with Packer and Theodore to establish Consolidated Press (later Australian Consolidated Press) in 1936. Denison also "agreed not to produce his own new magazine, "Woman", if Packer and Theodore agreed not to produce a Sunday paper in Sydney for at least three years"29^
Women's magazines were rapidly being recognised as lucrative ventures for publishers, attracting a large share of advertising revenue, which was naturally being spent in media that targeted the exact market the magazines were tailored for - housewives. The Weekly's
47 main competitors at the time it was launched were the "Australian Woman's Mirror" (produced by "The Bulletin") and circulating at 167,000, "Woman's Budget", published by Associated Newspapers, with circulation of 95,000, and "New Idea", independently published at the time with 52,000 circulation. O'Brien describes the existing women's magazines as "cosy little magazines, full of home chat in small paragraphs, romantic fiction and service features dealing with dressmaking, knitting, cooking and home management" 30.
The Women's Weekly was to emerge as one of the"piliars" of Consolidated Press's survival*, it has certainly been a consistently successful publication, which has contributed substantially to the company's revenue and needed little alteration to its formula until the last two decades. During the Second World War, the Women's Weekly had a major role in supporting the war effort and encouraging women to play their part. "Some evidence of the success of the magazine's campaign is the rise in its circulation from over 400,000 in 1940 to over 600,000 in 1945 according to its covers"32.
The Women's Weekly's introduction had coincided with an important development in Australia's economy - the growth of mass production, mass consumption and the related spread of display advertising. Although this
48 combination had brought important changes to the US and UK much earlier Australia was not to experience the same wave of change to such an extent until post WWII. In the fifties, the Australian economy boomed, accompanied by significant growth in the population and housing to cater for this development. Hire purchase debts grew by 650% 33 in Australia, highlighting the increased demand for credit on consumer items as suburban homes were equipped with an increasing range of consumer items coming onto the market.
The 196Q's and Bevond - Segmentation of women's Magazines
Of course the Weekly was not alone in the market. In the 1950's and 60's both "Woman's Day" and "New Idea" provided competition for the Weekly - "Woman's Day" is now published by Sungravure, a Fairfax company, and "New Idea" by a News Corporation subsidiary, Southdown Press. Keith Murdoch launched "Woman's Day" in 1948 from the Herald and Weekly Times headquarters in Melbourne, and the magazine was eventually bought by John Fairfax in 1953 and merged with a magazine called "Woman", giving the new publication a circulation of around 450,000. The Weekly meanwhile was circulating at about 805,000.
49 By 1954 there were five major women’s magazines in the Australian market3^, these three and "Woman's Mirror".
All five were considered "traditional women's magazines"35f and the total circulation of the five was around 1,734,000. The sixties produced little new competition for existing titles. And there was no substantial growth in the market, proportional to the growth of the populations^. But the end of the decade did see the beginning of more specialised magazines appealing to younger, high disposable income groups. McQueen points to the introduction of "serious English glossy"3^, "Nova" as an example of an early magazine targeted at a more sophisticated, professional readership. This "identification of new target audiences for merchandisers encouraged the expansion of "Vogue", as well as the establishment of "Pol", "Belle" and "Dolly""38. This era marked the beginning of "segmentation in the women's magazine market"3^. For several reasons, including new developments in technology, and pressure to extract more money out of the women's magazine sector, the seventies saw a spate of new publications. The new technology used was able to "achieve full colour reproduction on glossy paper, to attract advertisers further up-market than the traditional magazines"40. Many of the new magazines were
50 monthly rather then the traditional weekly format, a change which would even eventually overtake the Australian Women’s Weekly. In the US a similar trend was well under way. Anthony Smith explores the rise of market segmentation and its effect on magazines, and concludes that the "magazine in the age of television has either to act as a leech upon the side of television or to construct an audience for itself"41. Specialisation has become an essential part of marketing many products, and "a new generation of magazine publishers has successfully translated this process of social differentiation into the print medium"42#
Meanwhile in Australia, "Dolly" was launched in 1970 by Sungravure and aimed a teenage girls. Sungravure later published "Belle" which was originally a fashion magazine but changed to a home decorating format, and also owned "Pol" for a short time. In an effort to broaden the range of its magazines and cash in on the more lucrative segments of the women's market (groups of potential readers with disposable income), Australian Consolidated Press attempted to buy the rights for an Australian version of US magazine, "Cosmopolitan". When this failed, the company launched its own version, "Cleo". "Cosmopolitan", published by the American Hearst Corporation, went on to enter the Australian market
51 with its own version of the magazine, a strategy similar to that followed by several large international publishers since, such as the recent introduction of "Elle", jointly published by Consolidated Press and French company Hachette. "Cleo" was launched in late 1972 and quickly took the lead from "Cosmopolitan" with circulation figures of around 250,000. Around this time - 1976 - the Women's Weekly was forced to respond to the changes and increased competition in the market by using glossy paper and becoming a monthly publication. The move was not immediately successful with circulation dropping to "below 700,000 after the transition"43. it was reported to have cost around
$4 million to change the publication. Other changes were the merger of "Woman's Day" with "Woman's World" in 1980, and the first foray into supermarket selling of magazines when "Woman's Day" went on sale in stores in 1980^4. By the late 1970's
"Woman's Day" was reaching circulations of over 500,000, another cause for concern for Consolidated Press.
1 Ibid ^Williams, R (1961) "the long revolution" (Chatto & Windus), p 175 3Summers, A (1975) "Damned Whores and God's Police" (Penguin) p350 4Ibid ^McMurchy,M et al (1983) "For Love or Money" (Penguin) p42
52 6Ibid ^Ferguson, M, op cit, pl6 8Ibid, pl7 ^Summers, A, op cit, p317 ^Summers A, op cit, p323 ^Lindesay, V (1983) "The Way We Were" (Oxford University Press) i^Lindesay V, op cit, pl9 33Lindesay V, op cit, pl03 14Ibid l^Ferguson, M, op cit, pl7 i^Ewen, s (1977) "Captains of Consciousness" (McGraw- Hill) p28 l^Ewen S, op cit, p62 18perguson M, op cit, pl7 l^Bonney B & Wilson H (1983) "Australia's Commercial Media" (Macmillan) p37 28Bonney & Wilson, op cit, p42 23-McQueen H (1977) "Australia's Media Monopolies" (Widescope International) plOO 22jy[cQueen, op cit, p69 23McQueen, op cit, p82 24McQueen, op cit, p83 25ibid 2^Lindesay V, op cit, pl31 27Lindesay, V. op cit, p 20 28Bonney & Wilson, op cit, p222 2^McQueen, op cit, p83 380'Brien, D (1982) "The Weekly" (Penguin) pl9 McQueen, op cit, p85 32]3onney & Wilson, op cit, p222 33McQueen, op cit, pl8 34Bonney & Wislon, op cit, p248 35Ibid 36Ibid 37McQueen H (1982) "Gone Tomorrow " (Angus & Robertson) pl37 38Ibid 3^Bonney & Wilson, op cit, p248 40Ibid 4lSmith, A (1980) "Goodbye Gutenberg" (Oxford University Press) pl36 42smith, op cit, pl37 43Bonney & Wilson, op cit, p249 44Bonney & Wilson, op cit, p250
53 B. GROWTH OF SEGMENTATION IN THE 1980s/90s IN AUSTRALIA
By the early 1980's the women's magazine sector was well established, highly competitive and providing healthy profits for the major media groups in Australia, particularly the Murdoch and Packer empires. This had been partly the result of increasing concentration of ownership and attendant economies of scale, vertical integration within the companies and (for a variety of reasons) continued demand for the products. In the production terms, glossy paper, perfect binding and generally more expensive production quality was introduced in order to compete for more readers. After price battles between the established titles, which saw the Women's Weekly drop its price to 40 cents in the early eighties, only to quickly raise it again to 50 cents, new inserts in magazines were added to provide an extra attraction. The Weekly added a television guide at this time, but the quality of the insert was reduced before the section was eventually dropped from the magazine. Meanwhile other titles were introduced and then failed, with Consolidated Press publishing "You" from 1978, a lifestyle magazine. It was incorporated into "Cleo" but was never really successful and eventually dropped. In late 1984 Fairfax launched a magazine for working women, called "Portfolio". The format was similar to overseas versions, and it had a generally troubled
54 existence. The magazine was sold to publishers Mason Stewart Publishing in 1989 and the company said it would be targeting a younger audience. In 1991 it moved to a bi-monthly publication, appointed a new editor, Alexandra Joel, and announced it would be aiming at the working woman, but reflecting a wider lifestyle. Consolidated Press produced up-market fashion magazine, "Harpers Bazaar", until it was closed in mid-1990, but continues to produce "Mode Australia", while Vogue Australia, (published by Conde Nast in the US, UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain, and Australia) has produced an Australian issue for over 30 years. But it was only in the late eighties that a burst of activity saw the women's magazine sector in Australia increase dramatically.
The New "Niche" Magazines
Although well established magazines for women such as the "Australian Women's Weekly" and "New Idea" were proving to be consistently successful and maintained very high circulation figures, a variety of economic pressures on large scale publishers meant they were seeking to expand their existing markets. This was mainly achieved by producing new magazine titles, which were conceived and marketed as distinct
55 from the mass women"s magazine, and aimed to address different groups of women, and their "needs". This strategy was partly designed to address the increasing 'saturation' of the traditional women's magazine market, which was considered by publishers and their marketing advisers as already well catered for, with expansion of existent readerships increasingly difficult to achieve. The large media groups in Australia were, at this time, forced to consider alternatives as a result of the broad trends (identified in Chapter 1, by Hartley, Garnham, Smith, Bonney and Wilson) :
1. increasing concentration of ownership into a smaller and more competitive group of major companies, bringing increased pressure on markets,
2. the advent of expensive and time saving new technology, which was needed to produce the required quality of production in the intensely competitive market, and the high costs absorbed and recouped by further expansion. The speed of new technology also resulted in greater printing capacity,
3. the emergence of new and cheap distribution channels, mainly through the opening of supermarkets to magazine
56 distribution, which greatly improved existing sales networks.1
By the late eighties there was an economic and social climate conducive to the expansion (which, naturally, did not involve large outlays for production facilities, as they were already in place). The financial success experienced by the large media groups, competitive pressure, well developed technology and established distribution systems, led to the launch of several new niche women's magazines. Additionally, the move to extract more readership (and advertising revenue) out of an already crowded market was not a random development (just as the groups chosen as targets were not naturally occurring, as a result of similar demographic characteristics). The crucial importance of women as consumers, combined with gradual changes in women's social status, meant that a new means to attract readers in addition to those already buying traditional women's magazines, was particularly important to advertisers, and, thus, publishers. The ownership pattern in Australian media meant the main mass market magazines were basically owned by a handful of media companies, and the pressure to expand successful arms of these media group also led to the search for new "niches" in areas that were expected to
57 prove lucrative by fitting with a particular consumer group. A number of new magazines were developed to meet the criteria. In February 1989 the former editor of the Weekly, Ita Buttrose, launched a magazine for the "woman who wasn't born yesterday", simply called ITA. Aimed at women between 35 and 50, and published by a company called Capricorn Publishing (which remains a mystery in terms of its backers, a topic which Buttrose has refused to elaborate on), the monthly magazine attracted a great deal of interest and has continued to appear, despite predictions of an early failure. Just a few months later, in June 1989, Murdoch Magazines came up with "New Woman", another monthly magazine, targeted at women between 25 and 49 and competing not only with "Dolly", "Cleo" and "Cosmopolitan", but magazines such as "New Idea" and "Woman's Day". Not all new entrants have had immediate success. Fairfax company, Century Magazines, had a failure with "Now", a magazine for younger women, which lasted for only three months after its launch in May 1990. Murdoch Magazines responded to the introduction of "Now" by launching "Savvy" in October 1990, aiming at much the same audience as "Now" and offering the first issue for just 99 cents a copy. "Savvy" was based
58 on a German success story, "Prima", which had a highly successful launch in the UK in 1986. The UK "Prima" competed with established magazines by giving practical dressmaking and cookery advice for a much cheaper price (around 75p when launched). But the formula did not have the same smooth transition in Australia, with an already overcrowded sector. The magazine closed in December 1990, after just a few issues. In February 1990 Australian Consolidated Press, in joint venture with French publisher Hachette, launched an Australian edition of "Elle", a fashion magazine that originated in the UK in the mid 1980’s and now has many international editions. The Australian "Elle" was originally to be produced by Murdoch but plans changed and the joint venture went ahead with Packer. In October 1990, Australian Consolidated Press changed the format of a magazine formerly called "Good Housekeeping", which had been published through a contractural agreement with the American Hearst Corporation, which publishes "Good Housekeeping in the US. ACP renamed the magazine "GH" in December 1989, but sales remained poor and in October 1990 the title was changed to "HQ" (which stands for 'high quality' or 'headquarters' according to editor, Shona Martyn)^.
59 There were several changes in the broad magazine ownership pattern in 1991. By late 1991, a reshuffle in ownership of the major magazine groups was under way. Three "new" magazine groups were formed, including Pacific Magazines and Printing, a company 45% owned by News Ltd which had split the company off in order to raise some much needed capital following problems with huge levels of debt. PMP publishes both New Idea and TV Week.
Another News Ltd change resulted from the sale of Murdoch Magazines, publishers of New Woman, to a consortium headed by Rupert Murdoch's nephew, Matt Handbury. The "publishing strategy of the newly independent MM (Murdoch Magazines) is to locate psycho-graphic niches in the women"s magazine market, as its New Woman has already, and magazines such as Self, Mademoiselle and Working Woman have in the US against the traditional seven sisters of mainstream women's magazines"3.(For a definition of 'psycho-graphics' see Chapter 3). By 1991, therefore, ACP continued to dominate the magazine sector in general, and has a large share of the higher selling women's magazine titles. This was partly due to Kerry Packer's move to buy up the Fairfax magazine business in the late eighties. And it has led to a much higher degree of concentration in ownership of women's magazines, and had led to moves by publishers to further segment the market in an effort to compete.
60 Circulation Profile
In March 1991, the circulation figures for the top selling women's magazines were (according to figures released on 29 May 1991 by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, see Appendix 1):
Australian Women's Weekly (monthly): 1.2 million Woman's Day (weekly): 1.013 million New Idea (weekly): 1.003 million Cleo (monthly): 292,166 Cosmopolitan (monthly): 277,979 Dolly (monthly): 184,076 New Woman (monthly): 135,168 Elle (monthly): 64,100 Vogue Australia (monthly): 61,100
In contrast, the following daily circulations (including Saturday figures where appropriate) for major metropolitan newspapers were recorded as at March 31, 1991:
National newspapers
The Australian: 153,052 The Australian Financial review: 76,637
61 NSW Sydney Morning Herald: 267,267 Daily Telegraph Mirror:490,000
Victoria The Age: 234,083 Herald-Sun: 622,826
Queensland Courier mail: 247,380
South Australia Advertiser: 213,341
(Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations, Net Paid Circulations Figures, issued May 31, 1991).
While a comparison of the two sets of circulation figures (magazines and newspapers) must take into account some basic differences in usage, format, and frequency of publication, it is evident that magazines have a far higher level of sales than newspapers. The reasons for this can be attributed to a variety of factors, including the decline of newspaper circulations worldwide, but the very high circulations of Australian women's magazines is unusual among comparable countries.
62 At the end of 1990 ITA was apparently circulating at about 60,000 copies, although the figure was not included in the Audit Bureau of Circulations report. Australia currently produces abut 1,600 magazines a year. Australians spend $23 million on magazines a month, and 43.8% of Australians read the top 20 magazines, compared to 33.2% in the UK and 16.8% in the US4.
Consumption of Australian Women's Magazines
Australian women read more magazines per capita than anywhere else in the world. In the UK, for example, (population 57 million), "Cosmopolitan" sells 377,000 copies and in Australia (population 16.5 million) the same magazine sells 260,000. Likewise, in the US the seven main women's magazines now sell between five and eight million copies in a population of 247 million. In Australian the top three selling magazines for women - Australian Women's Weekly, New Idea and Woman's Day - regularly sell three million copies (per combined issues) in our much smaller population. There has been very little analysis of this extraordinary level of women's magazine sales in Australia. However, industry participants and commentators, mainly advertising executives and publishers, refer to the
63 market as highly ’elastic' and capable of sustaining a number of new publications even when areas such as business magazines are suffering major retractions. More specifically, these authorities cite the fact that Australian women frequently buy more than one magazine, and have access to publications through a broader range of outlets (newsagents and supermarkets) than other countries^. For example, in the US the lack of a newsagency system and reliance on subscriptions has been regarded as a less effective and more expensive system of distribution for magazines^. Managing director of Australian Consolidated Press, Richard Walsh, says the unparalleled Australian market for magazines is the result of learning magazine reading at our mother's knee, and is "due directly to the market penetration of the (Australian Women's) Weekly, read by 42% of women". Recent increases in the market "come from people looking for something to read on their homeward journey in the absence of afternoon newspapers"^.
Little attempt has been made, however, to research at a less superficial level the trend for Australian magazines in this area to reach such circulations. Although trends in media consumption such as the move away from afternoon newspapers and changing usage of media may contribute to the consumption level, the high circulation of women's
64 magazines is also tied to the particular audience and nature of the information being presented. As already mentioned, women's magazines offer a unique channel of communication addressed solely to women and their ’concerns' (as defined by the publishers). It could be argued that this channel offers women in Australia with one of the sole avenues for specific information about the world and matters effecting them in a society that has traditionally banished or marginalised women's issues. (The historical distance of Australia from the English speaking world may also contribute to the greater demand in Australia for publications centred on gossip about personalities and royalty).
Advertising Growth
Along with the remarkable growth in the sector has been a corresponding increase in advertising spending on the medium.
In 1980 Bonney and Wilson reported there was about $1.7 billion spent on advertising in Australia^. In 1989 the figure was $5.02 billion and in 1990 it was $4.9 billion according to annual figures released in July 1991 by the Commercial Economic Advisory service of Australia (CEASA).
65 CEASA figures also show that in 1990 a total of $239.3 million was spent on advertising in magazines, an increase from $216 million in 1989. Of this expenditure, advertisers are reported to have spent $52.1 million in women's magazines^. A breakdown of the largest spenders in the major women's titles shows that Australian Consolidated Press is the largest advertiser in the Australian Women's Weekly, Austrabelle in Woman's Day, Coles Myer in New Idea and Cosmopolitan, and Estee Lauder in Vogue10.
^-See Chapter 1, broad trends in political economy of media, Hartley, Smith, Garnham, and Bonney and Wilson ^Lawson, V, "Female Fantasies", August 2, 1990, Sydney Morning Herald ^Brenchley, F, "Magazines poised to catch any upturn", October 31, 1991, Sydney Morning Herald 4B&T, June 15, 1990 ^See Coomber, J, "There's gold in Aussie glossies", Sydney Telegraph, April 21, 1990; Light, D, "Women's magazines lead sales rise", Sydney Morning Herald, July 7, 1990; Lawson, V, "Female Fantasies", Sydney Morning Herald, August 2, 1990; Soden, D, "Hot debate falls on deaf ears", B&T, July 5, 1991 ^Fox, C, "Magazines flourish as TV advertising declines", Australian Financial Review, November 21, 1989 ^Tarrant, Deborah, "Walsh's turnaround", Sydney Sun Herald, July 12, 1992 ^Bonney & Wilson, pl25 ^b&T, November 30, 1990 10Ibid
66 CHAPTER 3 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S MAGAZINE MARKET - THE ROLE OF ADVERTISING
This chapter will examine aspects concerning the economics of magazine production in Australia, and the nexus between media organisations, advertisers and agencies which produce the display advertising that predominates in women's magazines. The special role that women have played as a social group in the development of mass consumption and advertising is also covered. The current use of market research techniques and measurement of circulations, and how the results of such research are used in developing new women's magazines, will also be examined. The section then analyses how and where advertising budgets are spent, and the function of media buyers.
How Publishing and Advertising Practitioners Define Segmentation
Advertising agencies, media buyers, and magazine publishers tend to define segmentation as the move to separate potential readers into specific groups and develop media products that are created specifically for those specialist or niche groups. They generally contend that these audiences, which they define through market research, are distinct social
67 groups, previously over looked and waiting for a special product to answer their needs. These groupings are no longer defined just in terms of demographic information such as address, age, and socio economic information, but in terms of so-called "psychographics": the way people think and feel about issues, problems, themselves and society. A recent text book on advertising1, claims that modern advertising sees audiences as segments rather than "homogeneous" masses, which results in the weakening of monolithic control by advertisers^. It is claimed that it is "in the advertisers best interest to shatter rather than support stereotypes"3. Kathy Myers"1 defines segmentation as dividing the total pool of people into smaller and smaller groups either by virtue of their "basic age, gender and race or by virtue of their lifestyle". A classic example of segmentation was the creation of the teenager in the 1950's. Thus, the use of lifestyle definitions results in the advertising manager of "New Woman", Deborah Quin, stating that the magazines formula has been based on the idea that "New Woman is an attitude not an age"5. According to advertisers and publishers, the output of demographic and psychographic market research studies provides defined groups, that can then be targeted by specific media. Among advertisers this is an important attraction. David Jones' group advertising manager, Bob
68 Renfree, said "magazines are the most precisely targeted publications you can get. The profile of the magazine reader is well known. You just have to look at all the people who pick it up and its subscription profile". "With magazines, it is possible to finely tune into the audience through judicious selection of titles. Usually
in the case of David Jones, the targets are female because they comprise most of the chain's customers"6. Segmentation is not restricted to publishing, as television and radio programming also reflects the trend to specialisation, but mediums such as magazines are particularly suitable for segmenting. Magazines are relatively inexpensive and accessible to large numbers of readers, they can be distributed selectively and in terms of production, a large media group can produce a number of magazines using the same technology and even editorial resources. When a new magazine is in development, segmentation allows the publisher to supposedly tailor the content, themes and style of the magazine to suit a distinct grouping. Naturally these groupings are not identified solely in terms of their attitudes and lifestyle, no matter how apparently appropriate they may be. The pressure to succeed financially with a new publication means that the group's essential buying power in the appropriate areas is another key criteria in isolating a target group.
69 The process of segmentation contrasts with the traditional mass market approach of publications such as the Women's Weekly, which trod a deliberately conservative and 'inoffensive' path in its content in order to satisfy as many readers as possible.
The Production of Australian Women's Magazines
Many of the traditional, mass circulation, women's magazines in Australia are published by one of the main media organisations operating in the country - News Limited, or Consolidated Press, and its highly successful subsidiary, Southdown Press. Smaller independent publishers do exist, but their output tends to be limited to specialised trade journals, or confined to a small number of publications (however, this sector does include the publishers of titles such as ITA) . Nearly all of the top selling women's magazines in Australia are therefore supported by a complex business structure which includes sections dealing with advertising sales, publishing, editorial, art direction, photography, and printing, and are produced by staff generally employed by the media group. These publications are generally produced and printed in- house, although there has been increasing use of international printing facilities over the past few years
70 because of cost savings. Nevertheless, many magazines are the result of the media organisation's vertical integration. Most of the publications are produced at a central location and then distributed around Australia. Distribution outlets include a range of channels, including subscription, newsagents, and increasingly, supermarkets.
Market Research and Measuring Media Consumption - Circulations. Readerships and Audiences
Defining and measuring who consumes media products - magazines, newspapers, television and radio programmes - is of crucial importance to publishers when analysing how these products should be packaged and to whom they will be marketed. As with many other consumer commodities, the use of sophisticated or detailed market research and measurement techniques arose as mass consumption developed, and became a necessity in the battle to keep profits high for large scale media groups. As previously discussed, this growth brought new pressure to bear on media owners, whose response was the development of high-output technology and maximisation of consumption, increasingly through advertising and marketing.
The specific targeting of advertising developed early this century, as products became "branded" and
71 competition for consumers intensified. According to Kathy Myers, the 1880's in Britain saw the "emergence of embryonic marketing strategies"^. This included the streamlining of distribution through improved transport and increased retail outlets, and the introduction of selective advertising and packaging. "In addition, more products began to be branded, and the novelty market of lotions and potions swelled to accommodate a range of foodstuffs"^. Another major development was the emergence of advertising agencies. Advertising representatives, as described in earlier sections, stopped "selling space in newspapers" and moved out of their offices in the newspapers to work "directly for commercial customers, offering on their behalf to sell and selectively place advertisements and thus 'reach' the most cost effective audience'9. This process of specifically targeted advertising proliferated during the 1930's, particularly in the UK where it represented a way for the economy to continue the process of fanning consumption by developing further markets out of the existing population. In Australia, the economically buoyant years of the fifties and sixties saw the emergence of many new advertising agencies as consumer spending increased with the booming economy.
72 Many of these locally based agencies were in fact owned by large US agencies, such as J Walter Thompson, Lintas and several others. In the media, the move to market magazines, newspapers and radio programmes like any other consumer product developed from earlier this century when competition and concentration of ownership made such techniques imperative for media owners if they were to compete and make profits. "Advertising was extremely important in the creation of overseas markets for American capitalism when the domestic US market had relatively little potential for growth", according to Bonney & Wilson-*-^. It is not simply a coincidence that the business of marketing and measuring the media has developed into a highly incestuous field where the larger operators are generally part of international networks or linked to large advertising and communication company chains (sometimes referred to as mega-groups). The pattern is one that is familiar in the advertising world, and the control of this business is part of the integration so often observed in the main media organisations themselves.
The new mega-groups "do not operate as advertising agencies but have been formed as holding companies which have a management and financial co-ordination function, integrating the activities of other member companies in
73 marketing, communications (such as market research and public relations) with the advertising agencies and their clients" H. Examples of these groups are the giant Omnicom group and Saatchi and Saatchi, both UK based. Bonney & Wilson pointed out that market research companies often work in conjunction with agencies, and their role of investigating consumer attitudes and behaviour "tends to be of an empiricist kind, assuming already given attitudes and behaviour patterns which advertising is thought to reflect rather than itself being a crucial factor in creating and shaping markets"12.
The main Australian media monitoring and research companies are Roy Morgan Research, AGB McNair and AC Nielsen. As marketing techniques became more complex and began to dominate the advertising industry, the media also changed to accommodate highly targeted advertising. The segmentation of the market has thus developed as a response to fundamental changes in consumption and the direction of advertising.
The Special Role of Women as Consumers
Since the development of mass marketing and advertising, women have occupied a special position as consumers
74 traditionally with crucial household spending at their discretion. Even in the thirties, women of all classes were recognised as key consumers, a role which "fitted with the moral and economic climate of the time"13, which included a renewed emphasis on women in the home. This role of housewife and provider of a domestic haven for children and husband was a theme throughout women's magazines at the time, particularly in articles on how to cook, clean and look after children and reinforcement of traditional values in fiction and advertising. As this was happening, parallel changes were also under way in the attitude to consuming. The acts of selecting, shopping and using products became a science and "consumption was defined as a full-time, productive activity"14.
Kathryn Weibel-^ traced the relationship between women's magazines and the US consumer-based economy, and found that women were key to the development of mass magazines and national advertising. Like Australia, the growth of a middle class in the US is linked to the rise in advertising appealing to this market, which had the capacity to buy certain goods and thus maximise profits for the manufacturers, advertising agencies and the media. The importance of advertising to the female consumer has grown during this century as manufacturers producing
75 ranges of packaged goods have also expanded and searched for new markets. This phenomenon has meant the rise of techniques, such as promoting the idea of buying 'more than one', of in-built obsolescence, and the need to keep up with the latest fashion. Part of the way in which these techniques are developed is through research of the market and specific usage of the mediums that consumer groups refer to for information. These marketing methods have changed gradually since the introduction of such terms as "total marketing"16 which gave way to a move from an "obsession with distribution to an investment in consumption" 1 "7.
By the 1960's, the logical extension for the marketing industry in many advanced economies was to looking towards "the creation of "fresh" markets"1^ to continue growth in industry, by keeping consumption high.
Measurement Techniques
While there is considerable variation in the techniques used for measuring circulations and audiences, the following are some of the main established methods used, which are supplemented by many research studies produced on a less regular basis:
76 Both circulation figures (a calculation of the number of units sold through outlets and subscription) and readership (the estimated number of people reading the publication) are measured twice yearly. Readership figures are sometimes broken down so that it is possible to find estimates of who read what - how many men read the Women's Weekly, etc. The Audit Bureau of Circulations produces bi-annual circulation figures for most categories of print media. However individual publications also publicise their own figures in advertising. There are numerous other methods of measuring readership of newspapers in particular. One is the Starch method, which monitors how many people read certain articles.
Radio
A ratings system based on a diary manually filled out by selected participants was the method used until the introduction of the so-called "people meters" in 1990. The meters still operate in selected households but electronically, rather than manually, record the selected stations at all times of use, thus purportedly providing far more accurate profiles of use. AGB won the radio meter contract and is conducting the measurement, which is reported eight times a year.
77 Television
People meters were introduced for television audience monitoring amid much controversy in 1990 and became fully operational as a system in Australia early in 1991. The meters operate in the same way as the radio system, electronically recording programme and stations selections. The information is then collated and reported regularly to agencies, and the media. In this way individual programmes are measured to assess how many viewers in certain areas and socio-economic groups watch a certain programme. The problems with the supposedly revolutionary meters is that the same groupings of viewers are still in place (see comments by Ian Muir below). And while the introduction was hailed as delivering a new profile of what people watched on television, the outcome has been relatively similar to the previous manual diary system.
The results of the meter ratings are sold through subscription to a variety of organisations, including the media organisations, advertising agencies, and advertisers, making the collection of the data a lucrative business. It is generally divided up between the main research groups outlined above, and contracts
78 for the people meters thus became a hotly contested battle. The advent of meters has meant that advertising agencies now receive the same data on ratings as the media groups themselves. The audited circulation figures for print media are generally published, then publicised, used in advertising campaigns for readers and to attract advertisers. A recent development in the area has been increased demand, mainly led by advertisers and marketers, for "cross-media comparisons", where television ratings will be compared with newspaper readerships and radio ratings to determine who is using what mix of mediums for information and entertainment, and to assess why. In a speech to a publishing conference in 1990,^ Gary Morgan, managing director of Roy Morgan Research, said that "media will need to focus increasingly on selling itself against each other media, and perhaps expend less energy on newspapers fighting other newspapers; magazines fighting other magazines; television networks fighting television networks and radio stations fighting radio stations".
Some techniques to compare media had relied on demographic material "such as ages and sex", while others had used "values" segmentation as a tool. A relatively new tool used by Roy Morgan which "set out to provide media,and buyers of media, with profile
79 information on television, radio and print audiences based on a common currency of demographic, values and product usage information". The tool thus provided media with an "extremely powerful sales tool" which can demonstrate "effectiveness in reaching specific target audiences"20. The use of such measurement techniques has become an essential tool for media groups. Without data to highlight exactly the "reach" of their products, media are unable to prove their circulation levels, to satisfy advertisers. Often this means the delivery of more and more specific groups of consumers to suit particular goods or services, and avoid what advertising people call "wastage" or sending the message to a large and not uniformly receptive audience. When Gary Morgan refers to a medium "selling itself" to another medium, and fighting other mediums, he is referring to the over-riding pressure within the media to attract lucrative advertising dollars. High circulations or ratings are critically important as elements needed to attract the economic support of advertisers, and less to attract readers. Increasingly, simply attracting large numbers of consumers is not enough, they must be the "right" kind of consumers. Another trend is the move to offer advertisers a 'package' of advertising spaces in a series of magazines
80 owned by the same media group. Increasingly advertisers are offered the full range of a media group's publications or programs in a special package (called group media buys). Publisher of Vogue Australia, Leslie Wild^l said "competition will continue to intensify as large media conglomerates continue to grow and offer group media buys". "This means the big get bigger, leading to a shakeout of smaller 'weak' publications". According to Southdown Press (publisher of New Idea) chief executive, Dulcie Boling, the company is "undertaking more research and servicing accounts more strongly to cater to readers and advertisers"22. And the integration of many Australian newspapers into Rupert Murdoch's global empire has allowed the papers to be marketed to advertisers as a single media buy^3.
Market Research
There are so many different methods used in the now sophisticated and extensive industry of market research that is difficult to outline all of them. However, the value system used by Roy Morgan gives an interesting example of the use of psychographics and how segments of people are defined. The segments have been used in this example to apply to magazine users:
81 Basic Needs (5% of all people)
Older people..often retired, lower end of socio-economic scale, hold traditional values... read New Idea, Woman's
Day, Readers Digest.
A Fairer Deal(7%)
Generally under 35 years..unski1led workers ... 1iving in rental accommodation, read TV Week, Dolly, People, Truth,
Wheels.
Traditional Family Life (19%)
Most are retired...religious...al1 over 50, right wing, above average readership of New Idea, Readers Digest,
Woman's Day.
Conventional Family Life (17%)
Generally aged 25-49, average incomes, struggling to improve, readers of Women's Weekly, Family Circle.
Look-at-Me (16%)
Unsophisticated, unmarried, young people, fashion and trend conscious, readers of TV Week, Cleo, Vogue, Dolly,
Rolling Stone, Follow Me.
Something Better (8%)
82 Younger, more modern family types, well-educated, above average income, progressive, read House & Garden, Belle.
Real Conservatism (5%) Over 35, not educated to tertiary level, traditional values, high proportion of farmers. Readership of magazines low, except for the Open Road, Australian Golf
Young Optimism (5%) Under 24, student, tertiary educated, single, optimistic Good Weekend, National Geographic, Time, Bulletin, BRW.
Visible Achievement (11%) Career and success oriented, higher incomes, interest in public affairs, readers of House & Garden, Home Beautiful, Belle.
Socially Aware (7%) Socially responsible, progressive, middle class. Read House & Garden, Home Beautiful, Vogue Living, National Geographic, Good Weekend.
Such research tools have built-in presumptions about the consumer groups and their values, as a result of the empiricist collection of data based on qualitatively determined categories.
83 Criticisms levelled at market research and media measurement techniques come from inside the profession as well, where a recent attack has highlighted problems with the "traditional" age groups used in analysing television viewers. According to researcher, Ian Muir^4# as society changes
"television networks need to update their demographics to cater for this evolution'. With the introduction of people meters, the use of major demographic groups needs to be reviewed, particularly as "a lot of advertising is bought and sold using only these "major groups". The "trick in any change to television's demographics will be to keep everyone, buyers and sellers alike, happy that the changes relate to contemporary society and identify logical marketing targets". His comments highlight some basic aspects of the way research into viewers and readers is conducted - using some fundamental assumptions by researchers and advertisers, groups are segregated and assessed in terms of what they watch and are likely to buy. The notion of including "new" social phenomenon, such as the single parent family, is only considered once the consumption potential of the group has been assessed. It is clearly the advertising attractiveness of these groups that dictate and prescribe certain parameters in the field of market research.
84 Far from operating as free agents in assessing the nature and habits of groups in society, market researchers and the various tools they use, are operating in a highly structured environment which is advertising-led. That is to say, the main clients of market research firms are manufacturers of consumer goods seeking to find out about their current and potential markets in order to make profits, and media groups seeking information on the composition of their audiences so that they can attract further advertising. Thus, a highly rated programme can have its audience broken down into certain socio-economic groupings (already defined by the researcher) and advertising is sold on the basis of its appeal to those groups. The need to keep these groups satisfied, and consuming the chosen medium, means that the research operates in very particular circumstances, and towards a clearly defined goal. Advertisers are naturally uninterested in groups with low disposable income, or little propensity to buy, so research does not focus on further identification of these groups, or their media needs. Magazines use similar, if less sharply delineated, methods. It is nevertheless important for publishers to have a readership profile that reflects not only potential purchasers of the magazine, but provides the ingredients for appropriately composed consumer groups
85 for advertisers. This is an important stage in the development of new magazines, and has become crucial in the launch of the new niche women's magazines, which have to provide accurate profiles of their readership to convince advertisers of the success of their particular publication. The priority of new publications is usually answering the advertisers needs, while not risking the loss of readers. "Publishers will always find niches but whether the consumer fits into these niches is another matter"25, It is evident that while niche marketing has become an accepted marketing tool for the launch of publications, some publishers have only paid lip service to the notion of appealing to a specialist group. As Vogue publisher, Wild, points out, "a number of publishers claiming to have found a new niche are really focussing on producing large circulating magazines that are efficient buys for the advertiser". As advertising plays such an important and indeed formative role in the production of the new segmented magazines, it is useful to analyse how and where advertising budgets are spent.
Advertising Budgets - Patterns of Expenditure
86 In analysing the way advertising budgets are spent in Australia, it is helpful to examine how the advertising agency operates in this channelling of funds. Advertising agencies responsibilities' often extend well beyond composing advertisements for clients. While this is a large and lucrative part of their business, the agency can also operate as an agent between the advertiser and the media. The media buying/planning section of an agency, or the specialist media agency, "determines how a client's budget will be spent, and where its advertising will be placed"26#
The media buyer or agency receives a standard amount of commission on the space or air time it books from the medium. It also has a fundamental role in helping determine the most effective areas of expenditure, by developing a media strategy. As Kathy Myers points out, the media planners are able to identify highly visible, or well read, spaces in magazines and newspapers, and can map out a plan according to frequency of the advertisement's appearance for maximum impact.
The media department also considers the coverage, or "percentage of the target market that will see the campaign"27 and the cost of the media plan, as well as the frequency. "Many agencies feel, for example, that women's magazines offer the "right environment" for the sale of toiletries,
87 make up and fashion"28# mainly because of the frequency with which women "browse" through the magazine, and the fact that there is often more than one reader. Sometimes the process of recommending a certain publication can be difficult because of the similarity in content. According to Australian media buyers,29, the differences between the highest selling weekly magazines for women, New Idea and Woman's Day, are "negligible", but other factors are taken into account when buying ad space for clients. "These include price, "innovation", readership data, particularly age skews, and which title feels"older" and which "younger"'. Media buyers also use "gut feel" after "flicking through both titles". The media planning process often extends to follow-up research on a campaign and close collaboration, or consultation, with the pre-launch process for a new publication or programme. "This kind of information is fed back into the marketing mix to determine not only what kind of adverts should be produced, but also where they should be placed"30. The media buyer or agency thus has a pivotal role in determining where,and how often, advertising appears. This is of great importance to media proprietors and advertising managers, who are naturally eager to
88 determine their regular inclusion on media plans, and to have the right "profile" for the large advertisers.
Advertising Expenditure
Advertising expenditure statistics for Australia show that magazines have a small but growing portion of the total. Figures released in July, 1991, for the 1990 year,(Commonwealth Economic Advisory Service of Australia) show that out of total advertising spending of $4.9 billion, magazines had a $239 million share, an increase of about $23 million. This compared to about $2 billion for newspapers, television with $1.73 billion and radio with $429 million. Television advertising had increased by 3.4 per cent. The breakdown for 1991 shows the following proportions:
Total newspapers $2,002m 40.7% Total magazines $239.3m 4.9% Total television $1,738m 35.3% Total radio $429m 8.7% Outdoor and transport $284m 5.8% Cinema $81m 1.6%
Advertisers spent a total of $52.1 million in Australian women's magazines during 1991-31.
89 While information on exactly how much companies or industries are spending is usually confidential, there is some information available which identifies the largest advertisers in each medium. Thus in women's magazines, a report in B&T (November 30, 1990) shows a breakdown of the "top spenders" in each of nine women's magazines (see Appendix 2). The list reflects the differences in the consumer profile of each publication, with prominent spenders such as Coles Myer in New Idea and Australian Women's Weekly, and Estee Lauder the top spender in Mode and Vogue. Another important trend when considering the channelling of advertising funds, is the increasing amount directed towards marketing and promotions and away from mainstream and display advertising. According to the Commonwealth Economic Advisory Service of Australia's report on 1990 expenditure, overall advertising expenditure declined by 2%, whereas spending on promotions and direct marketing such as letterbox leaflets, increased by 5.1%. This is usually interpreted as a clear response to recessions, when advertising budgets are either static or cut back, and there is pressure for the budget to "stretch further". This means advertisers cut back on expensive glossy or television advertisements, and increase cost effective direct advertising, such as letterbox leaflets on supermarket specials.
90 But it is also an indication that the mass media faces economic pressure not only from competing mediums fighting for advertising dollars, but from forms of promotions such as direct mail, cable television and even home computers.
Summary
What appears to be emerging in the process of segmentation of the market, is not simply the isolated discovery of "new" or specialised markets, which are naturally occurring. The financial pressure of attracting high advertising levels means that media groups are developing new media products - magazines, radio programmes or newspapers - to fit with highly specific and previously identified consumer groups. Increasingly, it is the job of market researchers to provide information on the consumer patterns and markets which can be used to not just identify the direction for advertising expenditure, but to identify new and appropriate media vehicles for such spending. Thus research such as that outlined, takes on a far more fundamental role than identifying consumer patterns, and is often used to identify new media products. This is particularly evident in the women's magazine sector, where the recently launched niche magazines
91 deliver a product specifically designed to deliver a certain consumer group. The commercial media in Australia operates in a structure which is primarily dependent on advertising revenue to survive. This dependence has led to the development of an established pattern of operation, which involves the channelling of most display advertising dollars from large manufacturers or producers of services, to the media through advertising agencies and media buyers. The agencies and media buyers advise their clients on the structure and balance of the advertising budget. Certain mediums are selected as the most effective, or those which provide exposure to the greatest number of appropriate viewers and readers for the least cost. The advertising agencies and media buyers use increasingly sophisticated and detailed market research and circulation techniques to identify consumer groups and the corresponding mediums to which those groups will be most exposed. At the same time, advertisers have become increasingly sophisticated in the development and strategic positioning of products in order to remain financially viable in competitive and mature consumer markets. The result of this process is that the media product - magazine, radio show or newspaper - is itself regarded and defined as a product, which must be tailored and
92 packaged to appeal to consumers in order to attract advertising. In this process, agencies and advertisers, have become key forces in determining the nature and scope of many new media products. This is particularly the case in women's magazines, where a new publication must enter a mature market, where a range of magazines already cater for many readers, and produce sufficient readers that are attractive to advertisers. The agency will be the point of contact for advertisers and can influence the flow of dollars to a new magazine, so it is essential that publishers communicate the attractiveness for advertisers of their product to the agency. Those publications or programmes which do not appeal to audiences likely to attract advertisers cannot be financially viable and, except for rare cases of subscription, therefore cannot survive. iRotzoll, K & Haekner, J (1990) Advertising in Contemporary Society (South-Western Publishing) 2ibid, p76 3Ibid, p77 4Myers, K (1986) Understains, the sense and seduction of advertising (Comedia) p35 ^AdNews, May 18, 1990 ^Pearson, C, "Glossing up Campaigns", (B&T, March 27, 1992)6 ^Myers, K (1986) Understains (Comedia) p21 8Ibid 9Ibid 18Bonney, B and Wilson, H (1983) australia's Commercial Media (Macmillan) pi35 ^Sinclair, J (1991) the Advertising Industry in Australia, p33 (Media Information Australia, No 62) 12ibid, P131 13Myers, K, op cit, p25 14Ibid, p25 l^Weibel, k (1980) Mirror Mirror (Anchor)
93 16]yiyers, K, op cit, p34 17Ibid, p35 18 Ibid l^Morgan, G (1990) Multi-media research : Magazines and Newspapers. How they fit in with television and radio {Australasian Publishing Congress, Sydney, April 1990) 2°Ibid 21in "Publishers Viewpoint", B&T, November 30, 1990 22Ibid 22Sinclair, J, ibid 2^Muir, I, "Age old debate returns", B&T, July 15, 1991 2^B&T, Novmber 1990, op cit, 26jyjyers, K, ip cit, p63 27Ibid, p64 2®Ibid, p65 2^Soden, D, "Hot debate falls on deaf ears", B&T, July 5, 1991 30jyjyers, K, op cit, p66 2^tart Research, "Top Spender", B&T, November 30, 1990
94 CHAPTER 4 CONTENT ANALYSIS
This chapter analyses the content of three women's magazines launched in Australia in the early 1990's - New Woman, ELLE, and ITA - and explains why they are used as examples in this study. The profile of each magazine, including the target market and editorial style, is examined. This has been conducted in order to determine the motives of the magazine producers, using content analysis rather than semiotic analysis (see Chapter 1). Content analysis was employed as it appeared to offer a more effective method of determining how segmentation operates within this sector, rather than reliance on the decoding of images appearing in the magazines. It is important to note again that a political economy framework has been used to analyse the broad trend to segmentation, involving the identification of various economic and production pressures particularly contributing to the rise of specialisation, and the effect on content, in the women's magazine sector. These pressures include the need for large media groups to maxraimize audiences in order to maintain and increase profits. This is often achieved by seeking efficient ways of expanding existing mediums and thus enhancing advertising revenue. In the women's magazine sector, one of the most effective ways of achieving this goal is to
95 tailor magazine content to appeal to certain defined groups, thereby delivering to advertisers an appropriate consumer audience.
Rationale for Examining ITA. ELLE and New Woman
When examining segmentation in the women's magazine sector in Australia, it is apparent that the process has emerged as an increasingly popular method among large media groups in the launch of new publications during the last decade. Production pressures, such as increased competition, mass market saturation, and forces such as new technology and distribution systems, have formed the basis for the trend to specialisation among large media groups. In order to understand how segmentation operates in the Australian context, and how it affects the content of the magazines, it is useful to examine some of these recent publications. Each of the three magazines chosen has been launched during the late 1980s/early 1990s with a high level of publicity proclaiming the specialist nature of the content and why they are different from, and more appropriate for, certain women than traditional women's magazines. Each has purported to target a new market segment rather than women in general, although this has not been the
96 result of any special interest group's expertise - in fact, all of the magazines are published by well known media figures or companies. Each of the magazines can be described as a "popular" or mainstream publication with glossy format, national distribution, sophisticated display advertising and has been the subject of a promotion campaign. A content formula is also clearly employed in each publication, providing a regular and familiar framework for all editorial material.
The Content Formula
The following analysis identifies a content formula in each magazine that hinges on a key element - the role model or self-help editorial content. This core element is supplemented by regular articles that cover areas usually included in mass market women's magazines, such as cookery, beauty, fashion, travel and health. The self-help component, which could also be labelled lifestyle or guidance, features either pop psychology or 'opinion' on areas such as the effects of combining work and family, contraception and childbirth trends, female friendship and networking, divorce and finance. The self-help article features prominently in both ITA and New Woman (and is present, but with less emphasis, in ELLE). The emphasis is on an 'expert' opinion to be used
97 as guidance in the struggle to attain and come to terms with either a certain image, role or career. The role model element centres on a famous film star, or professional woman who has 'made it', or a fashion look that is to be aimed for (and by implication is desirable in order to attain other successes). While these key elements are present in the three magazines, each publication has a slightly different emphasis and tone in both editorial and advertising. In ELLE, the formula hinges on fashion looks, with an emphasis on providing the latest fashion and styles. In ITA and New Woman, the key editorial features (in terms of prominence and length) outline guidance on how to recognise, cope with and adhere to certain guidelines in social and career arenas. ELLE's role model profiles are restricted to celebrities/film stars, whereas ITA features a number of role models that are non celebrities, and from older age groups, and New Woman includes film stars with other prominent women, such as authors and doctors. The theme of the content in all magazines has a broadly aspirational quality, with goals for an 'improved' woman delineated through editorial and advertising. The content is dominated by articles that provide aspirational messages with improvement (in looks, mental health and career) the main goal.
98 Further details on the identification and frequency of the formula components are outlined in the following sections (for specific research methods see Appendix 1).
Profile of the Magazines ITA Launched: February, 1989 Stated target market: women between 35 and 50 years of age Cover price: $5 Current circulation: around 60,000 (not included in Audit Bureau figures) Publisher: Capricorn Publishing Pty Ltd
New Woman Launched: June 1989 Stated target market: women 25 to 49 years Cover price: $3.50 Current circulation: 135,168 Publisher: Murdoch Magazines
ELLE Launched: February, 1990 Target market: women 25 plus Cover price: $4.20 Current circulation: 64,100
99 Publisher: Hachette-Consolidated Press Pty Ltd, a joint venture between France Editions et Publications and Australian Consolidated Press
(Circulation figures from Audit Bureau of Circulations, period October 1, 1990 to March 31, 1991)
How the Editors Describe their Publications
According to editor, Ita Buttrose, ITA magazine is for the woman between 35 and 50 who "wants to know more than the latest gossip about Di and Fergie, Caroline and Stephanie...we are interested in the environment, the future of our children and our grandchildren, the world in general, war and peace"1. The magazine’s slogan says the publication is "for the woman who wasn't born yesterday" (a slogan borrowed from US magazine Lear's). A review of the first issue notes the lack of make-overs and the addition of cosmetic surgery articles when compared to mass market women's magazines. There were also articles on the empty nest syndrome (when children leave home) and references to the readers being "not quite the women we were". In a later interview, around two years after the launch of the magazine, Ita Buttrose described the magazine as the "thinking woman's read, delivering Australian content to women 35 and over"2.
100 An advertisement for ITA in advertising trade journal, B&T, (June 1990) quoted figures from a Roy Morgan Readership Survey showing that readers of ITA are mainly professional, are aged 35 or over, and well over a third of readers are in the AB (or better educated, higher income) socio-economic grouping. The advertisement uses a by-line "ITA: A niche marketing success story".
New Woman New Woman targets women between 25 and 49 years, but at the time of its launch the first editor of the magazine, Julia Zaetta, said the magazine would have "something for most women"3.
Ms Zaetta described the target group as women "who think a particular way...they're more broad-minded, smarter, more aspirational in terms of quality of life, better educated, not marrying so quickly and demanding more from the men in their lives"4. New Woman "will drive women to be realistic and deal with situations in an open manner so they will be better off at the end of the day". Using content from US and UK parent magazines, the Australian edition of New Woman aims to pick features "common to all women regardless of nationality - being female is a common condition", Ms Zaetta said. Another profile of the magazine describes the target market as "intelligent, independent and highly motivated
101 women who have a desperate need of information to help expand her life"5. NW claimed to have found a "previously untapped niche in the market" of 25 to 49 age bracket women who "are sick of being patronised and spoken down to", Julia Zaetta said. She explained the magazine's readers were primarily "women that were products of the baby boom who went through the feminist movement, the beginning of it, its high period and its flattening out and were then confronted with the hippy era...those women are now in their thirties". A later editor, Fran Heron, said that New Woman was providing grown-up stories for readers who had "graduated from "Cosmopolitan" and "Cleo""^. NW makes a concentrated effort to categorise the attitudes and so-called "mind-set" of its target readership. The idea of readers being sick of patronising behaviour and being talked down to - something Zaetta calls a "fairly negative factor that emerged from the feminist movement" - is part of the profile market outlined in New Woman's promotional material. Zaetta has described New Woman as not "a feminist magazine - it's just for women"?.
ELLE
102 ELLE differs from the other two magazines in that its overseas parent editions (the magazine was originally established in France and then expanded to establish several international editions) have been in existence for several years and the magazine has a formula which is adhered to throughout the world. The Australian edition of ELLE therefore took on an already established style and format from its parent publication, and aimed at the same kind of target audience as the overseas editions. The magazine is clearly targeted at younger women than either ITA or New Woman, and ELLE is described as "somewhere in between Cosmo and Cleo, and Mode and Harpers Bazaar", according to publisher Richard Walsh^. Editor of ELLE, Debbie Coffey, described the magazine as "not lifestyle, we're style...It has its own unique formula. It's predominantly a fashion magazine but with food articles - an up-and-alive magazine designed to create appetites. The ELLE women doesn't really have problems. She's streetwise. You don't tell her, you show her things"9.
Consolidated Press (joint publishers with Hachette of ELLE in Australia) described the magazine as a bible of fashion, beauty, the arts and travel for "affluent and international, sophisticated women who constantly seek new ideas that will inspire and fine-tune their rich
103 sense of style"10. Promotional brochures labelled ELLE as
"above all, a state of mind".
ELLE is clearly fashion and consumer oriented with its
full page fashion photographs and guides to beauty and
clothing buying.
As distinct from rival "lifestyle" oriented publication
New Woman, ELLE clearly does not aim to address "serious" topics or include in-depth articles about social affairs andlifestyle, but presents sophisticated images of how to
look, what to see and read to be fashionable.
Content Analysis
This broad analysis of the content of the August 1991
issue of each magazine concentrate on the editorial
formula used, including the content of articles and
features, and will also briefly cover the advertising content of the magazines^.
As each magazine has its own layout and division of editorial content, each will be initially examined separately before finally comparing and analysing the three magazines.
ITA
ITA's content is divided into four main sections:
Features, Leisure, Columns and Fashion & Beauty (a total
104 of 33 articles/columns, plus the cover story, which is not included in this total but is a celebrity-style interview with Maina Gielgud, artistic director of the Australian Ballet). The content is dominated by profiles or interviews with celebrities/prominent figures or experts (mainly women but including men) which make up approximately 21% of the content. Self-help or guidance style articles also total about 21% of the editorial. After these two categories are taken out there is a dramatic drop to the areas of travel (9%), opinion (9%), then health (6%) and fiction
(6%). The remaining articles divide into one fashion article, one environmental piece, a cosmetic product guide, two finance articles, an antique jewellery review and a recipe feature. Display advertising accounts for 24 pages of the 132 pages in the magazine, or 11% of the content. Advertisements break down into the following categories*:
Food items: 3 Furniture: 3 Cosmetics: 2 Clothing: 2 Whitegoods: 2 Travel/hotels: 3 Property: 1
105 Conference featuring Ita herself: 1 Australian Opera: 1 Sanitary/pharmaceutical: 1
Finally, the cover of the magazine features a colour photograph of Maina Gielgud (who is the subject of a feature interview).
New Woman
New Woman formally divides articles on relationships into a section, as is also the case with self-help features. Both these areas form a core component in the magazine's editorial content. A total of 31 articles are listed in the index and break down into the following groupings: Lifestyle/self help articles which concern sex, friendship, childbirth and articles by psychologists, predominate in the magazine, with around 22% of editorial in this category, followed by health related articles which account for 12% and profiles of women, also 12%. Articles on beauty, product guides and fashion each make up 9% of editorial, and travel and cooking each account for 6%, as does the space given to reader letters or opinion. One article on finance, one fiction offering and the stars complete the mix.
106 Advertising in New Woman is at a much higher level than in ITA. There are 45 display advertisements and one page of classified advertising in the 132 page magazine, although several display ads are not full page. This means advertising takes up about 31% of the magazine's content, which is in the following areas:
Cosmetics/hair care: 13 Food: 11 Pharmaceutical: 4 Competitions: 3 Cars: 1 Jewellery: 1 Clothing: 1 Fast Food (corporate): 1 New Woman promotion: 1
The cover of New Woman features a colour photograph of US film star, Susan Sarandon.
ELLE The content of ELLE is divided into sections on people, "reports" on contraceptives and sex, opinion and health. The major difference between ELLE and the other two magazines is a marked emphasis on fashion, an area which appears to be deliberately lacking in emphasis in the
107 other two magazines, where fashion sections are much smaller than traditional women's magazines. Fashion features and a section called "Elle-ments", a kind of guide to shopping, cars, the arts, predominate in the magazine, which has a distinctly younger style and emphasis than the other publications. Much of the content is concerned with guides or displays of consumer items suitable for the age group, ie. clothing, hairstyles, make-up and product reviews, detailed information on where to buy these items occupies a significant part of the magazine. This emphasis is less evident in either ITA or New Woman. There are 33 articles listed in ELLE's index, with just over 33% of the editorial content devoted to fashion related articles, followed by lifestyle articles, focusing on things to do, the arts and motoring, which make up 15% of content, along with celebrity interviews/profiles which also make up 15%. Beauty articles account for 9% of content. The remaining sectors include more emphasis on astrology (6%), food (6%), and less on self help/opinion (6%) or health and travel (one item each), than ITA or New Woman. The editorial content of ELLE (which in this case is easy to confuse with advertising content) is dominated by fashion spreads, showing youthful models in outfits and accessories, all of which are listed (with the shops they
108 are available in) in a section at the end of the magazine.
Advertising in ELLE makes up 39 of the 148 page magazine, or approximately 26% of the magazine.
The advertising concerns these sectors:
Fashion: 11
Cosmetics/hair care: 6
Jewellery: 3
Competitions/offers: 3
Travel/hotels: 2
Perfume: 1
Public/community announcement: 1
Shopping guide: 1
Food: 1
The cover of the magazine features Australian film actress, Nicole Kidman in a black and white photograph.
Content Comparison
While the three magazines ostensibly target groups with different interests, and in ITA's case, different ages, the breakdown of content shows at least a basic formula is common to all the magazines.
Each magazine places a great deal of importance, if not editorial space, to the celebrity interview/profile. In
109 ITA this tends to move beyond concentration on a film star or model, but is nevertheless an essential part of the content and promotional thrust of the magazines (all three magazines featured a photograph of a well-known woman on the all-important cover; a striking cover is considered essential for high sales because it catches attention in newsagents and on news-stands where magazines are grouped together). Additionally, the magazines generally adhered to a formula which included some basic ingredients: a section on food/cooking, travel, health, some type of consumer guide, and either a finance or car article. What varied in each publication was the emphasis and quantity of these elements, but less variation was evident in the actual content of the articles. The difference in the predominant editorial and advertising areas in each magazine is an interesting way of investigating how each editor, and advertising manager, is attempting to differentiate their magazine. ITA's leading editorial features are on celebrity profiles and self help, and the most frequent advertising areas are for food and furniture. New Woman, however, leads its editorial with lifestyle and self-help articles, which far outweigh the celebrity content. The largest share of advertising in the magazine, however, is devoted to cosmetics and haircare.
110 ELLE departs from these two publications by predominantly featuring fashion in both editorial content and advertising. ELLE also carries a significant number of "advertorials" or advertising which is in a format and style that is similar to an editorial piece, and carries a small headline labelling it as an advertisement. In analysing each magazine's attempt to address the segmented group of readers they profess to target, the area of self-help/guidance or lifestyle articles are a key barometer because these topics often reflect a particular lifestyle appropriate to an age or demographic grouping. This area typically includes sensitive or even previously "taboo" topics, and often reflects the limits to which a publication will go in meeting what they consider to be "readers needs", and providing differentiation from older mass market magazines for women. In ITA the topics range from coping with the end of an affair, to whether fathers get a raw deal in family law and how women have less concern about measuring success in terms of their career. While all topics related to changes in attitudes or lifestyle, the articles often question some of the reforms made to in advancing women's rights, and make reference to traditional family patterns.
In New Woman the same category features women' problems in coping with pressures and how to resolve these
111 dilemmas. Article topics range from women experiencing fatigue because they do too much, to female friendship and the rise in women questioning traditional childbirth procedures. (These pieces sit rather oddly with some of the glossy advertising in the magazine, a contradiction to be examined later in the study). ELLE however does not place too much emphasis on areas for discussion such as social issues, and the articles that are included concern sex addiction and a feature about contraception in Russia. In each magazine, the column written by the editor also provides an indication of the content and overall style of the publication. ITA concentrates on 'discarded wife syndrome', and why middle aged men leave their wives (the topic of a previous editions article). Interestingly, Ita concludes that perhaps the blame for the syndrome lies with mothers who bring up their sons to believe the only "desirable women is one who is physically perfect". She also explores article topics covered in the issue, describes a diabetes charity which she has become patron of, and reviews a new book on prominent Australian business women. New Woman has a much shorter editorial which centres on the need to celebrate the achievements of ordinary women (the subject is covered in one of the issue's articles), and previews other articles.
112 ELLE has no editorial column, but editor Debbie Coffey often contributes an article, which in this issue concerns techniques to remove wrinkles.
Comparison of the Niche Magazine Formula with a Traditional Mass Market Women's Magazine
Comparison of the content formula of the three niche magazine's with traditional women's magazine, the Australian Women's Weekly, provides a method of measuring the nature and extent of differentiation in content that may exist between the publications. It also provides a means of determining whether the niche magazines offer a more diverse range of information than such traditional publications. The Australian Women's Weekly has been chosen because of its position as an established, high circulation women's magazine which caters to a mass women's market rather than segmented or niche groups. For reasons of brevity, the following analysis is based on a broader content study of the Australian Women's Weekly than the previous detailed analysis of the three niche magazines, but nonetheless identifies main editorial and advertising components. The June 1990 issue of the Women's Weekly has six main sections : news and features, fashion and beauty, crafts, house and garden, cookery and great reading. A further
113 section lists 27 regular monthly items, including home hints, puzzles, stars, a health column and children's page. Briefly, the news and features section relies heavily on celebrity based articles, with several articles on home buying, baby care and childhood ailments. The crafts and cookery section are the next largest in terms of the number of articles, followed by house and garden. The advertising content accounts for 86 of the 288 page magazine, or 30%, which is comparable to the amount in New Woman, but three times more than ITA, and 10% more than the advertising ratio in ELLE. This is partly a result of the very high circulation of the Women's Weekly and the nature of its market, which is a highly attractive consumer market for food and other home product advertisers. Significantly, by far the most prominent advertising category in the Australian Women's Weekly was food (37% of all advertisements) followed by cosmetics (17%). This differs from ELLE, which featured more fashion advertisements than any other category, and New Woman, where cosmetics was the prominent area. However, it parallels the advertisement breakdown in ITA, where food was the most prominent sector, but out of a much smaller and more broadly dispersed range of advertisement categories.
114 The Women's Weekly's advertising emphasis on food appears to reinforce traditional values which identify women as the main buyers and preparers of food. The magazine's advertising profile therefore reflects a pattern that is in keeping with older women's magazines which mainly focus on women in a home maker role. The editorial formula of the Women's Weekly has some similarities with the three niche magazines, particularly with the inclusion of regular features such as travel, fashion, beauty and the stars. However the length and treatment of these areas differs between the magazines, with the Women's Weekly concentrating on domestic arenas, such as children's fashion, while ELLE covers evening clothes and all three niche magazines feature work or office clothes. The niche magazines generally allocate less space to the regular features than the Women's Weekly (particularly in the home hints and cookery areas). Celebrity interviews and profiles are given similar emphasis in both types of magazines, although the niche magazines tend to concentrate on women rather than men, while the women's Weekly features several men in this section. Unlike the three niche magazines, the Women's Weekly focuses on the home, crafts, cookery and gardening. Self help and advancement articles are noticeably absent, or confined to such topics as breast feeding.
115 The other significant difference is in the area of health and lifestyle articles where the new niche magazines include topics such as abortion, divorce, and career advice. There is no such information in the Women's Weekly, where women are addressed as primary home carers and often featured in illustrations or photographs accompanying home hints and cookery articles. This difference in the content of the traditional magazine from the niche magazine suggests that the niche publications are providing some diversity of information within the confines of an established women's magazine formulas. 4Macken, D "Ita puts gloss on mid-life", Sydney Morning Herald, February 15, 1989 ^Pearson, C "Leading Titles Keep Their Gloss", November 1991, B&T ^Safe, M, "New launch for all women", June 23, 1989, Mirror 4 Ibid ^Catalano, A "Wanted: the New Woman", June 28 1989, Telegraph ^Pearson, C, op cit 7Catalano, A, op cit ^Wright, L, "ACP to launch ELLE into crowded market", July 27, 1989, Sydney Morning Herald ^Women's Magazines, February 10 1990, The Australian Magazine lOwright, L, "Here comes another one...", February 15 1990, Sydney Morning Herald ^Percentage figures for content and advertising have been calculated by dividing the number of full pages of an advertising category or editorial style by the total number of advertising or editorial pages.
116 CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
In this concluding chapter the development of media segmentation is reconsidered, with particular reference to segmentation in women's magazines, followed by a reappraisal of the central argument of the thesis within a political economy context. By examining the effect of segmentation on the Australian women's magazine sector, the development of new magazines, their content and the images they portray, the chapter summarises how the contradiction between overt conformity to established content formulas and diversity has developed in niche magazines for women.
Development of Segmentation
It is worth reconsidering the factors leading to the development of segmentation and then to present the differences which the specialisation of such magazines has made to these niche products. Segmentation is a response to a number of developments in the mass media during this century. As earlier sections have shown, the growth of consumer markets during this century led to the growth of mass marketing and advertising through the mass media1.
117 Women were targeted as a key group by advertisers because of their unique role as household organisers. The medium of women's magazines thus provided an ideal opportunity for advertisers to expose consumer goods to the precise market required^.
This process has largely emerged since World War II, as "magazines and in broadcasting there has been a marked tendency to split up general material into particular interests and tastes, rather than covering a general field in a single magazine or service"3. This is not a natural process, but the result of advertisers pressure to "have magazines with particular classes of readers who will provide a known market" and the development of divisions between the 'popular' and the 'quality' media. As these changes took place, the major media groups, which were growing and becoming increasingly internationalised, became almost wholly dependent on advertising revenue, and not the unit cost of the newspaper or magazine, to support the medium and finance its growth. The trend meant that media owners were increasingly concerned with the size and composition of the audience attracted to their products in order to, in turn, attract advertisers. Hand in hand with the development of mass consumption and marketing was the growth in mass media, appealing to the widest possible audience in order to generate large scale consumption.
118 Massive social changes after World War II saw the emergence of the middle class consumer, and the increasing sophistication of advertising. As competition grew among manufacturers of consumer goods, the need to prove differences between products also increased. Advertisers began to tailor a product for an audience, and the use of specialisation gradually began. Meanwhile various economic/political pressures were changing the nature of the media. The pressure to grow and capture more audiences led to a spate of mergers among Australian media groups, in a move which mirrored similar changes internationally. Companies that had produced newspapers only, diversified and bought up radio and television stations in a bid to remain competitive and economically viable. Several world-wide media conglomerates were formed. Competition for markets intensified. In the women's magazine market, a number of other complex factors were also in play. Changes in the social status of women, which had there roots in the reforms made earlier this century, gradually led to the disintegration of housewives as a homogeneous group for advertisers. There had always been exceptions to the mother/home-maker role model, but the increase in women in the work force combined with social pressure by the women's movement made the role model increasingly redundant^.
119 Segmentation in the magazine sector became an ideal means for larger media groups to diversify in an existing medium and increase market share, without putting already successful magazines, and a fundamental formula for the magazine's content, at risk. Segmentation is not a process that has evolved in a vacuum. It is a specific strategy by media groups to achieve greater market growth. The process of segmentation is a highly sophisticated means of enhancing audiences in a mature consumer culture, where the launching of new media products is expensive and puts at risk large sums of capital should a media product fail. Segmentation is part of the trend towards marketing the media, which involves viewing magazines as products to be sold to the maximum number of consumers. The aim of segmentation is to not just capture consumers, but the "right" consumers. This is why it has been so widely and mostly effectively introduced in women's magazines, where a major consumer audience is at stake.
Challenging the Existing Paradigm : conformity and diversity in niche women's magazines
The existing paradigm labels segmentation as a marketing lever and media trend which has developed since World War II to satisfy advertiser demand (see Chapter 1). With few exceptions, this process has been analysed in terms of
120 producing less alternatives and diversity rather than more. As already quoted in Chapter 1, ideas and ideology "play second fiddle to a more imperative dictate, namely financial survival"5 in the large, commercially driven, media groups. Segmentation has provided a means to meet these dictates by generating higher profits from established formulas in women's magazines. But it is useful to critically examine the effect of segmentation on women's magazines in terms of broader political economy theory. I have concentrated on the work of Williams and Garnham in this context as their analysis provided the most effective framework for exploring the key issues in the central argument of this study. This argument concerns how apparently similar formulas in women's niche publications nonetheless accommodate some diversity of content in the magazines. In examining the use of set formulas in women's magazines, it is important to acknowledge the barriers to changing such established modes of content and production. The rigidity of formulas in the media is a "deeply learned" convention^, and any change is difficult and slow to come about. However, as Williams has described, these rigid divisions are not necessarily reflected by social and educational research and investigations, which often reveal "gradual scales of
121 many kinds"^ rather than formally organised niche groups with a specific set of interests. The distinctions between the mass appeal media and the minority are not "inevitable social facts" and may be "communication models which in part create and reinforce the situation they apparently describe"®. This analysis supports the contention that content formulas for women's magazines which have been inherited by niche publications may not consciously reflect, or try to accommodate, the social changes occurring in women's social status, despite targeting 'new women' or niche groups of readers. (It is important to note that this may be simply because of the inertia and rigidity of formulas, rather than deliberate editorial policy). But these changes may be reflected in parts of the advertising and editorial content as a by-product of these shifts in social status taking place and certain elements gradually becoming absorbed in advertising and journalistic practice. The key contention in the central argument of this study is therefore that these magazines remain similar to other women's magazines in formula, while accommodating a new vein of content. This apparent contradiction and resultant confusion in content is supported by Williams' contention that certain 'asymmetries' have developed between social and cultural production and reproduction, resulting in conflict and
122 tension^. In particular, this asymmetry emerges in areas of tension such as the organization of the market and the "uneven and changing relations between a received ...'popular' (largely oral) culture and the new forms of standardized and increasingly centralized production and reproduction"*0, such as mass magazine production. The relations of the market are often internalized by producers, in a highly complex process. General movements in social and cultural relations (such as changes in women's status) interact with this complex process of internal cultural production, leading to "many diverse results"11. The claim that there is an avenue of diversity within niche magazine formulas can be supported by further analysis of the political economy of consumer markets. According to Nicholas Garnham, the markets for consumption of goods and services in monopoly capitalist economies have to be created, and do not simply occur. "Both the creation of use values and their transformation into exchange values is a social process involving struggle and contradiction, with determinate historical roots and results"In addition, he has rejected the notion of a capitalist conspiracy dictating control over the entire media agenda because they have access to information and resources. The question of whether the productive forces of the mass media mirror the social condition is again central to
123 this argument. Garnham has claimed the structure and condition of the economy, the state and other elements such as class all contribute to a media system's specific characteristics^.
In particular, when analysing diversity of content in magazines, the concentration of media ownership is one of the factors frequently cited as a threat or barrier to greater diversity of information. This is because it is economically effective for media groups to adapt existing formulas and channels of information to produce 'new' products rather than originating material or deliberately creating true diversity of information. However, Garnham has claimed that it is less the concentration of ownership that prevents diversity, and more the result of consumer behaviour limiting media consumption through patterns of purchasing power and the time available for consumption. Thus a 'two tier' system results, with the upper-level market having access to high quality and diverse information, and the lower level restricted to an 'increasingly homogenized and internationalised range of goods (and information) of lower quality". This analysis has some useful applications to the issue of diversity in the segmented women's magazine sector. Firstly, the concept that contradictions arise in the social process which results in new markets appears to
124 parallel the contradictory nature of new media products that are addressing these markets. Women as a market are in the process of evolving from traditional roles into new roles and this has led to the gradual development of new consumer categories by advertisers. It has also led to a confused pattern of images and content in the advertising which appears in niche magazines. Editorial content has also changed to accommodate new social profiles of women, although again this is not a process which either accurately reflects social changes or deliberately promotes consciously developed themes about women's position in society. Rather, it appears to be the result of a slow and unplanned adaptation of journalism as changes occur. The appearance of this diverse information is not planned, or deliberately mirroring social conditions, but part of a complex social process as new consumption markets emerge. The confusion of images and content in these niche publications also appears to reflect a contradiction in the many media images of women, and the roles to which they are assigned. A woman's sphere of influence, and thus the advertising she would be targeted with, is no longer confined to the realm of the home and its attendant concerns. However, there seems a distinct paucity of replacements for this defined "women's realm" of influence in the media generally, and a marked
125 confusion in women's magazines, where no single role or image has emerged with which to target advertising. The result has been a reliance on established images of women, combined with some limited 'new' images where women appear in non-traditional roles, or even a shift to target advertising at both sexes. Secondly, the 'two tier' analysis puts forward the notion that those able to afford a greater range of information can have access to it. Most major media groups attempt to cover both levels of the market, with the 'upper' or 'better quality' information mediums often subsidised by the 'lower'. Niche women's magazines in Australia seem to represent a blend of both formats or 'tiers' - a mass market format that attempts to address specific affluent groups. This straddling of both styles means that even within a rigid formula, there is an avenue allowing, or possibly ensuring, some diverse information flow into the publications. This does not ensure a vastly wider range of information is available in these magazines, but that some diversity is evident.
Diversity in the New Niche Magazines
In order to support the contention that some diversity exists within a the rigid formulas adhered to by niche magazines for women, it is useful to turn again to
126 particular examples of such magazines launched in Australia. In an earlier chapter the profile of three such magazines, ITA, ELLE and New Woman, were examined. Each of these magazines was launched into a relatively small, and highly competitive magazine market, as a result of publishers applying the tenets of segmentation. Each title was the result of extensive market research on potential readership, and analysis of advertising potential. The promotion of each magazine centred on the unique and untapped nature of its audience, which the publishers claimed were being neglected, or not properly served by existing women's magazines. With the exception of ITA, the magazines are published by large international media groups. Consolidated Press (ELLE), for example, publishes an enormous range of women's magazines in Australia, (including with joint venture partner, Hachette, which publishes ELLE in Australia). Murdoch Magazines,(New Woman) is part of one of the world's largest media groups. As such, these media groups are already producing many women's magazine titles and needed to create and target a new group of readers to effectively capture another market to increase and maintain profits. For readers targeted by these new niche publications, the magazines promise a broader range of information specially selected and aimed at them. For advertisers,
127 the niche magazines are vehicles designed to deliver a target market which has been composed, via demographically based research, specifically to deliver potential consumer groups. The content of the three magazines consists of a remarkably similar core of articles and themes, which centre on role models and self improvement. The advertising content is also mirrored in each of the magazines, with some minor exceptions and differences in quantity. The images of women included in the publications were broadly similar, with some small concessions to 'niche' groups (such as older women in ITA) . The lack of real difference in the content formula of the three niche magazines is evident after analysis. Just as the advent of "Cleo" introduced a different style of magazine into Australia during the 1970's, these niche publications have targeted a specific audience without compromising the core readers, resulting in similar formulas and styles to existing mass market magazines. The groups targeted by "New Woman", ITA and ELLE are not random audiences waiting to be targeted with a magazine perfectly tailored to their needs. They are the groups identified by extensive research to provide the consumer profile needed to attract large advertisers. As such, these groups overlap to a certain degree.
128 However, as mentioned earlier, these magazines nevertheless provide some avenues for material that would not, for example, be included in the Women's Weekly. Closer examination of the publications reveals a contradiction arising within both the editorial content and advertising in the magazines, and the inclusion of content that differs from the traditional mass market magazine content, and even earlier examples of niche publications. Articles which are concerned with issues such as abortion and contraception, feminism, health and false advertising are obviously at odds with the advertising content, and often the editorial 'message' in other parts of the magazine. The result is a confusion of images and ideas that actually succeeds in destroying the homogeneity of such images in older, mass women's magazines. The new niche publications do not re-define images of women in the mass media. They do not attempt to address groups that remain neglected, or unable to conform to the consumption patterns of a group generally made up of affluent middle class women. The information they supply is often familiar to many of the readers. But what the publications apparently exhibit is conformity to existing formulas while incorporating more diverse or broader forms of information and images than are generally available to women, particularly in the commercial media.
129 The economics of magazine production in Australia are such that the trend to segment the market has been a financially driven strategy for large media groups in competing for advertising and seeking to maintain market share. Niche publications also provide some economies of scale as the magazines can be produced using existing facilities and pooled resources, such as distribution channels and even editorial resources. The process has not succeeded in true diversification of the information and images contained in this medium. But even within the financial constraints of magazine production, the new niche publications have opened a narrow window to allow information that was otherwise unavailable in a mass medium directed to women.
Future Development of Media Segmentation
The trend to segment media products seems likely to continue, as consumer markets become more difficult to reach and the pressure on media groups to deliver ever larger markets continues. Anthony Smith has presented a relatively optimistic view of the future for newspapers, which will use technology to increasingly tailor their content. However, this analysis does not take into account the trend to only target the affluent consumer groups, rather than diversify to include the myriad of other groups that
130 exist. Likewise, the attempts to attribute segmentation to changes in population composition seem to ignore some aspects of how this trend developed. Large groups of the population do not necessarily develop a need for specialised media "naturally", or without any influences on their taste, selection and patterns of consumption. Although to many industry observers there appears to be genuine demand for niche products, and less consumption of mass media, there is increasing pressure on media producers to create new markets by promoting such niche products and introducing increasing numbers of specialist titles and programmes, thus effectively channe11ing demand. This only occurs in the segments of the population which are capable of sustained consumption, ie. those with sufficient income and education to absorb the advertising messages. And the niche magazines and programmes produced to date have certainly been aimed at only such affluent groups, and not even a small part of the entire spectrum of specialist audiences that may exist. The nature of future niche products for women must depend not just on the economic structure of media groups, the development of new consumer markets and the financial constraints and demands of advertisers. It involves the complex political issue of how women are perceived, and represented in society, the media structures that interpret and convey that representation, and the
131 changing nature and growth of markets for these publications.
Summary
The findings of this study support the contention that the development of segmentation is basically a response to economic pressures in the mass media by large media groups, which include the need to generate new markets for media products in an effort to attract greater advertising revenue. Women have been traditionally targeted by a high proportion of consumer advertising because of their buying power, and it is therefore the sector of the media which specifically addresses women that has been highly segmented. However, the development of these new markets for women's magazines does not conform to rigid formulas, and is an erratic and contradictory process. Because of the commercial basis for the segmenting of reader groups, there is little true differentiation between the 'target groups' that magazines such as ELLE, ITA and New Woman aim for, with an attendant lack of clearly differentiated content. These three magazines have adhered to a content formula that departs only slightly from mass women's magazines.
132 However, contrary to existing analyses of media segmentation, which claim that the trend generally results in less diversity of information to a diminishing audience, the niche women's magazines examined provide some evidence of a limited broadening of content, and high circulations. The content within the new niche magazines, and the roles that women are portrayed in, are more diverse than mass market magazines, but with little consistency. This has produced some confusion in the magazine formats, particularly when such material is juxtaposed with traditional content in advertising and some editorial. This departure from the existing paradigm appears to have resulted from both the contradictory process which creates new consumer markets, the lack of any framework within the media for reflection of the changing social conditions of women, and the unusual role that women's magazines occupy in straddling two tiers - the 'mass' and minority or specialised markets. As a marketing lever, segmentation is deliberately employed in a broadly consistent manner by mass media groups. But the effect of segmentation on women's magazine content is neither consistent nor coherent. This results in contradictory content which does not appear to be the effect of deliberate editorial policy, but a reflection of contradictions in creation of new markets
133 and a complex matrix of attitudes and interpretations of the social position of women. ^Ewen, S, (1977) "Captains of Consciousness" (McGraw Hill) ^Weibel, K (1980) "Mirror Mirror" (Anchor) ^Williams, R (1966) "Communications", (Pelican) p 88 4Weibel, K op cit ^Hartley, J (1982) "Understanding News", (Methuen) p48 ^Williams, R (1966) "Communications" (Pelican) p89 7 Ibid ^Ibid, p90 ^Williams, R ((1981), "Culture" (Fontana) p99 10Ibid, plOO 11Ibid, pl06 ^^Garnham, N (1983), "Towards a theory of Cultural Materialism" Journal of Communication, Summer, p321 13ibid 14Ibid, p323
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Chanel 16. Philip Morris 16. Mantons 17. Sportscraft 17. CHL Apparel 18. Clarins Products 18. Philip Morris 19. Guerlain Paris 19. Toyota Motors Sales 20. Givenchy Parfumes 20. Sandler of Boston 1. Unilever 1. Australian 2. Murdoch Magazines Consolidated Press 3. Amatil 2. Johnson & Johnson 4. Nestle Australia 3. Coles Myer 5. Edgell-Birds Eye 4. CCA Beverages 6. Colgate-Palmolive SPENDERS 5. Speedo 7. Sanitarium Health 6. Unilever Food Advertisers spend a total of $52.1 m in 7. Bowater 8. Johnson & Johnson 8. Sportscraft 9. Bonlac Foods Australia's women’s magazines and these 9. MCM Networking 10. Amott’s Biscuts 10. Warner-Lambert 11. Philip Morris lists of top 20 advertisers in various titles 11. Cussons 12. Sterling Pharmactl 12. Carter Wallace 13. Reckitt & Colman show who's spending the most. 13. Australian 14. HJ Heinz Government 15. Golden Circle Information is supplied by Advertising Service Cannery 14. Juvena Cosmetics 16. Rothmans ofPall Mall Tart Research. 15. Wella Australia 17. George Weston Foods 16. Hallas Trading 18. •Coles Myer 17. House ofJenyns 19. Canned Food 18. Benetton Colours Information Service 19. Portmans Store 20. Cantarella Bros 20. Revlon ■ ■ ■ ■ 1. Australian 1. Austrabelle 1. Coles Myer 1. Austrabelle 1. Coles Myer Consolidated Press 2. Australian 2. Southdown Press 2. Unilever 2. Australian 2. Toyota Motors Sales Consolidated Press 3. Philip Morris 3. Estee Lauder Consolidated Press 3. Coles Myer 3. Johnson & Johnson 4. Unilever 4. Philip Morris 3. Johnson & Johnson 4. Unilever 4. Juvena Cosmetics 5. Johnson & Johnson 5. Johnson & Johnson 4. Philip Morris 5. Rothmans of Pall Mall 5. Revlon 6. Amatil 6. Rothmans of Pall Mall 5. Email 6. Philip Morris 6. Rothmans of Pall Mall 7. Talkback Promotions 7. Australian 6. Amatil 7. Amatil 7. Philip Morris 8. Rothmans of Pall Mall Consolidated Press 7. Unilever 8. Johnson & Johnson 8. Estee Lauder 9. Australian Dairy 8. Toyota Motors Sales 8. Rothmans of Pall Mall 9. Edgell-Birds Eye 9. Unilever Corporation 9. Amatil 9. Golden Circle 10. Nestle Australia 10. Amatil 10. Golden Circle 10. Juvena Cosmetics Cannery 11. Amott’s Biscuits 11. Yves Saint Laurent Cannery 11. Coles Myer 10. Franklin Mint 12. Revlon 12. Coles Myer 11. Campbell’s Soups 12. Hallas Trading 11. Bonlac Foods 13. Australian 13. Helene Curtis 12. Woolworths 13. Revlon 12. Australian Government Australia 13. Bonlac Foods 14. Yves Saint Laurent Government Advertising Service 14. Procter & Gamble 14. Nestle Australia 15. Events Clothing Advertising Service 14. Procter & Gamble 15. Guerlain Paris 15. James Hardie& Co 16. Procter & Gamble 13. Worldvision 15. Brian Davis & Co 16. Carter Wallace 16. Canned Food 17. Helene Curtis 14. Nestle Australia 16. Cadbury Schweppes 17. Chanel Information Service Australia 15. Toyota Motor Sales 17. Colgate-Palmolive 18. Angoves Wines 17. Australian Wool 18. Sportscraft 16. Reckitt & Colman 18. Marigny 19. Givenchy Parfumes Corporation 19. The Nutrasweet Co 17. Cadbury Schweppes 19. Max Factor & Co 20. Max Factor 18. CSR 20. Clarins Products 18. David Jones 20. Bonlac Foods 19. Reckitt & Colman 19. Ego Pharmaceuticals 20. Australian 20. Sterling Mail Order Government Advertising Service B&T, NOVEMBER 30 1990 APPENDIX 3 CONTENT ANALYSIS: RESEARCH METHODS As outlined in Chapter 1, the content analysis of selected women's magazines involved the qualitative selection of editorial and advertising categories, followed by quantitative analysis, through counting of frequency, as a basis for further analysis. As already outlined, the form of analysis closely resembles the broad approach of Ferguson in assessing the content formulas of UK women's magazines, and that of Williams in his broader analysis of media content. Definitions and examples of the main editorial and advertising units used to assess the main components of the magazines' formulas and the broad style of the publications are listed below. Categories of analysis 1. Editorial This is a broad outline identifying the main editorial elements identified in the content analysis, and is not intended to provide an exhaustive breakdown of all content categories. Self-help/guidance: covering broad topics such as achieving career success, coping with depression or tiredness, making friends (egs. "Fast Track Fatigue" : New Woman, "Addicted to Sex" : ELLE, "Trapped by Success" : ITA). Also includes specific areas such as regular finance and legal advice. Celebrity profiles: interviews with well-known people, ranging from film stars to women achievers, including conservationists, authors and doctors (egs."Jan Morris: Literally speaking" : New Woman, "The Maina Chance" : ITA, "Days of Wonder" : ELLE) Opinion: articles which are clearly identified as 'subjective' opinions on a diverse range of topics, sometimes by the editor (egs. "Custody Wars" : ITA, "Idle Idols" : ELLE, "Birth Rites" : New Woman) Health: usually a regular section with small items on new developments, treatments and drugs, sometimes accompanied by advice columns, and often includes longer features on major topics such as contraception (which tend to overlap with the self-help/opinion section, eg "Birth Rites", "Fear of Food" : New Woman, "In Tune and Immune" : ELLE, "A Wet Problem" : ITA) Beauty/fashion: regular articles and features, including consumer guides to new products, beauty and fashion tips, 'new looks' and features on 'makeovers' or transformations of readers by use of cosmetics and hairstyles. Travel: travel commentary on holiday destinations, usually framed as consumer guides with details of transport and accommodation. 2. Advertising The following definitions of advertising categories were used in the breakdown of advertising frequency: Cleaning products: detergents, kitchen cleaners and sprays Community announcement : health warnings, community services Cosmetics/haircare : lipsticks, powders, rouge etc, and ranges of cosmetics, shampoos, conditioners Financial services : insurance companies and investment advisers Food items : branded grocery products such as coffee, cereals, chocolates, or generic items, such as milk, avocados. Furniture : individual items such as sewing machine tables, or ranges of dining and lounge furniture. 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