Research Task One: How has the UK consumer magazine industry evolved?

Over the last 10 years, the magazine industry has seen a significant decline in print circulation and sales which has impacted the magazine company's overall revenues. There have been multiple factors that have contributed to this: the move to online media has meant that the magazines are more easily accessed through websites and social media platforms, Covid-19 accelerated the decline in revenue significantly which fell by 33% from 2019 to 2020 and the increased competition with new digital and visual platforms like Instagram and Facebook. 

In 2000, UK consumers spent £1.4 billion on magazines whereas, in 2020, only £669 million was spent which illustrates the steep decline that the industry has faced. Overall, there has been a decline in the number of magazine titles offered with the closing of nearly 500 businesses since 2000. Music magazines have been one of the styles that has been impacted the most because the circulation has fallen by 90% to 1.8 million from 2017 to 2021. "Successful large players" of the industry now don't consider themselves successful anymore because of the decline. 

The typical target audience of music magazines (usually 16-25 year olds) are now more interested social media platforms and the direct contact you get with music artist through that than investing in magazines of the same topic. Q, the once biggest music magazine, who sold 200,000 copies every edition at the peak of its time now barely sell 50,000 which shows the diversion in attention of the audience away from magazines.