Amanda Claesens
A personal reflection from a readership researcher
After reading Sheila Byfield’s piece “Do the media reflect society or create it?”, I began to think about how my magazine reading habits have changed over the years. The teenage me was an avid reader of Smash Hits and Just Seventeen, I then moved onto more “grown up” publications of Cosmopolitan and Red, and now I only occasionally read Grazia.
My working life has been intrinsically linked to magazine readership studies, working for 20+ years in a research agency which researched titles ranging from Today’s Golfer through to Bella. I’ve seen first hand how readership of physical publications has fallen away as we all moved to the digital world.
But are we still all seeing the same content just in a different format? What can the Archive of Market and Social Research tell us?
A 1994 study from EMAP and Millward Brown [1] noted that “the average 11-19 year old makes time to read five titles each week. 60% being read when teenager is on their own, with 46% being read in bedroom. 72% find advertising in their magazines useful, 43% have bought something as a result of seeing it in magazine, 32% had used a money off coupon or card.”
These figures don’t seem that out of line with kids today – the figure of 60% of content being consumed when teenager is alone and around half reading in their rooms feels like it fits with today’s world. But of course they aren’t reading physical magazines, they are watching TikTok and YouTube.
Looking at one of the longest established women’s monthly magazines, Good Housekeeping was first launched in 1922 (I’m putting to one side my thoughts around the expectation that women need to “keep the home” in 2024). My research led me to series of slides in celebration of their 100 year anniversary [2] which show the first issue looking very much like a children’s book cover and with no coverlines to entice to buy.
A readership study from 1956 [3] cites that around 5% of women in the UK were reading Good Housekeeping with the most popular magazines being Woman and Woman’s Own each read by around 30% of women in UK.
Data from the archive [4] shows that whilst newspaper and weekly magazine readership saw decline over 30 years from 1956 to 1986, women’s monthly magazines remained relatively constant. In fact Good Housekeeping remains consistent at around 2.2 million readers for most of those 30 years. Today (2025) the magazine has 5 million unique web users, 1.3m social followers and a monthly print circulation of 425,000. Obviously the change in formats make it difficult to compare precisely, but today its reach is greater than ever.
The digital world has undoubtably enabled magazines to share their content to a wider audience than was possible by print alone, but have we forgotten the sheer joy that was experienced when you sat down with the latest printed copy of your favourite magazine, putting aside time to read? A 1995 report “Magazines and active readers” [5] starts with a statement “The magazine medium’s essential strength lies in the active way in which readers choose and use their magazines. Magazines are an active medium” and that “time is set aside for reading”. And so this “intimacy between reader and magazine benefits the advertiser. Advertising is seen as integral part of magazines, relevant advertising is valued by readers, and is consumed with interest”.
My search of the AMSR then led me to “Pyrex Roasters and advertising research” [6] report from 1978, where research was required because there was “no information from research about the way this (existing Pyrex roaster) is used by housewives”. The study examined the press advertising that was “pasted into copies of Good Housekeeping”. Is that so different to nowadays?
My quest to find data relating to print advertising also led me to Stop/watch [7], a 2005 book by Belgian company, Medialogue. It’s a fascinating read (and is partly responsible for me taking so long to finish this article!). Amongst (many) other things it discusses the affect of advertisements on regular compared to occasional readers and shows that their Effective Score (explained on Page 23 of the report) for “regular, loyal readers indeed lies, on average, more than 3.5% higher than with occasional readers”. The same is true for those who have a closer relationship with the magazine, “involved readers”, having with their “Effective Score which is more than 3% higher than with non-involved readers”.
The 1999 report “Take a Fresh Look at Print” [8] also deserves a mention, it contains world wide case studies of advertising awareness studies from Kenco instant coffee to Woburn Park Zoo.
In start contrast to the archive, I’ve also asked AI for its thoughts on how print advertising has changed over time, it says…. “over the last 15 years, print advertising has undergone significant transformations, some of the key shifts are:
- Digital dominance – as people migrated to digital spaces, newspapers and magazines faced challenges, ad spend declined and the industry struggled to recover
- Evolution of strategies – advertisers now focus on targeted campaigns, using data driven insights to reach specific audiences effectively
- Integration with digital – many campaigns now integrate print and digital elements, eg QR codes in print ads lead users to online content.
- Sustainability – advertisers are considering the ecological impact of print materials
- Niche publications – these have found their footing, specialised magazines cater to specific interests providing targeted advertising opportunities
- Print is luxury – high end brands using premium print materials to convey exclusivity.
In summary, print advertising has adapted, embracing digital synergy, sustainability, and personalized approaches. It continues to evolve, reflecting changes in consumer behaviour and technological advancements.
The magazine industry has proven that print advertising is more effective than digital alone, and with the move towards “digital detox” and discovering the simple things in life once again it will be fascinating to see how readership and advertising in physical publications changes over the next few years. There will always be a place for physical magazines …. in 1987 when Guy Consterdine [9] wrote “30 years of readership figures serve to emphasise the responsive nature of British newspaper and magazine publishing. Each year publications are born, relaunched and die, and the rest develop quietly… Adaptability to the changes tastes and demands of the market is the key to survival … The print medium has been able to adapt and survive through a period of great social change which included the onslaught of mass-market television.”.
Sources:
- Youth Facts 4 – Nov94 EMAP and Millward Brown, cited in Guy Consterdine 1995 Magazines and Active Readers: the case for consumer magazine advertising based on an analysis of recent magazine research
- www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/lifestyle/g549675/vintage-good-housekeeping-magazine-covers/?slide=1
- The Hulton Readership Survey 1956: condensed report – Reports of projects – The AMSR Online Archive (oclc.org)
- 30 Year Readership Patterns: 1956 to 1986 – Reports of projects – The AMSR Online Archive (oclc.org)
- Magazines and Active Readers: the case for consumer magazine advertising based on an analysis of recent magazine research – Reports of projects – The AMSR Online Archive (oclc.org)
- Pyrex Roasters and advertising research – The CRAM Peter Cooper Collection – The AMSR Online Archive (oclc.org)
- Stop/watch: everything on the impact of advertisements in magazines – Reports of projects – The AMSR Online Archive (oclc.org)
- Take a Fresh Look at Print – New insights into the effectiveness of print in the media mix – Case Histories from Around the World – Reports of projects – The AMSR Online Archive (oclc.org)
- 30 Year Readership Patterns: 1956 to 1986 – Reports of projects – The AMSR Online Archive (oclc.org)
Amanda Claesens
July 2026