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Industry decline and innovation

Illustration showing interactive components of online magazine

Magazine publishers responded to the threat of the internet by producing their own online editions

Magazine sales have been in steady decline since the arrival of the internet.

Some magazine producers have said that the industry is in crisis, as print editions must compete with online only magazines, such as Salon.com

Magazines face competition from platforms, which provide free content, produced by writers including experts, celebrities and the general public.

Most popular magazines have responded to these changes by publishing their own online editions, which contain some free content and interactive features.

Examples of these interactive features include:

  • Quizzes and questionnaires
  • Comments sections where the reader can interact with the content
  • Videos and
  • Links to buy the products featured and advertised

Magazines are still popular as portable, read anywhere objects. However, as the use of tablets and smartphones increases, the popularity of the magazine as a portable object may also decline.

Regulation

The magazine industry is self-regulated; following the same conventions as newspapers, with the Editors Code of Practice and the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) setting industry standards.

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