The teenage magazine sector has been shrinking rapidly since 2005, and still faces significant threats from a number of sources.
One of the main factors leading to what seems to be the imminent demise
of the sector is the `Kids Getting Older Younger' (KGOY) phenomenon.
Rather than reading magazines created especially for their age group,
young teenagers are turning to women's lifestyle glossies and celebrity magazines aimed at older readers.
However, the biggest threat to the sector comes from other forms of entertainment — notably the Internet, but also television and radio. Teenagers are now able to access information about music and the other things that interest them almost instantly through the Internet, television and mobile telephones, and traditional teenage magazines struggle to compete with this.
Most magazines within the sector have responded by creating their own online presence, but circulation figures for the traditional magazines continue to decline.
By contrast, the pre-teen magazine sector has doing relatively well,
with a healthy bias towards new launches rather than magazine closures. Whereas teenage magazines tend to target only girls, the pre-teen sector includes a diverse range of titles that appeal to both sexes.
The pre-teen sector has generally performed better than teenage magazines, with cover-price revenue from the former category having more than doubled between 2004 and 2008. In stark contrast, sales of teenage magazines fell by more than half during the same period, in value terms.
The trend is illustrated by the fact that, in 2004, sales by value of teenage magazines were double those achieved in the pre-teen sector — but, by 2008, the situation had reversed, with sales revenue from pre-teen magazines amounting to well over twice that from teenage titles.
Key Note's original research findings confirm the view that teenage magazines, although still a major influence on the beliefs and behaviour of teenagers, are losing some of their power, especially among girls.
There was a generally positive attitude towards the place of magazines and comics in the lives of pre-teenagers, with a high proportion of adult respondents agreeing that it was preferable for 8 to 12 year-olds to spend their pocket money on magazines and comics rather than on sweets and chocolate. Similarly, there was strong endorsement for the fact that magazines and comics can encourage reading among this age group.
There is a marked variation between the forecast performances of the teenage and pre-teen sectors. The continuing growth of online activities for teenagers, together with demographic factors, means that the outlook is bleak for traditional print teenage magazines, and sales are forecast to continue to fall between 2009 and 2013. By contrast, the pre-teen sector is expected to show relatively good growth, increasing by between 2.7% and 4.9% year-on-year during this period.
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