GQ- Audience & Industry

Audience

1) How does the media kit introduction describe GQ?

As the flagship of men’s fashion and style in Britain, to be GQ is to be forward-looking, progressive and cutting-edge.

2) What does the media kit suggest about masculinity? 

The media kit suggests that as masculinity evolves and men's fashion has moved to the centre of the global pop-culture conversation, GQ's authority has never been broader or stronger.

3) Pick out three statistics from the data on page 2 and explain what they suggest about the GQ audience.

~1.8 million social followers- Their audience is present on social media and technology and could possibly prefer social media content than an actual physical copy of a magazine. 

~£7.7k is the average annual spend on fashion- Their audience has disposable income and clearly have an interest about fashion and care about their image.

~61% of readers are ABC1- GQ's audience are quite wealthy and can afford to read such high-end magazines that promote expensive fashion brands. 

4) Look at page 3 - brand highlights. What special editions do GQ run and what do these suggest about the GQ audience?

GQ run GQ Heroes: Issue & Event, GQ Hype, Men Of The Year and Tentpole Video and Social Series. This suggest that GQ's audience are aspirational, successful men who care about pop culture, their appearance, socialising and social media presence. 

5) Still on page 3, what does the video and social series section suggest about how magazine audiences are changing? 

British GQ’s video series drew more than 45 million views in 2021 – with viewers watching more than 10 million hours of content. In 2022, globally-renowned GQ franchises including Actually Me, 10

Essentials and Iconic Characters launch in the UK, joining local series like Action Replay to create our most dynamic lineup of video, ever. That video programming will also hit all of British GQ’s social channels, where audiences have grown more than 30% in the past year to top 2 million.

This shows that GQ audiences are more attracted to online and video content than magazines. 

Media Magazine feature: GQ

1) What are the elements that go into choosing a cover stars for GQ? 

It can't be any famous person who has a 'hook', it needs to be the right person at the right time, that always matters more than fame.

2) How is the magazine constructed to serve the target audience? 

GQ try to always provide their target audience with the aspiration factor, as if they go too young or too old they lose the crucial aspiration factor. At GQ's best, it’s also a brilliant forum for excellent profile writing and world-class photography and design, along with award-winning longform feature writing and sharp culture writing – but men’s style is the magazine’s core, and, along with high-end watch brands, is where the vast majority of the magazine’s advertising revenue comes from.

This means nearly all shoots in the magazine – celebrities and otherwise– are done in tandem with the

magazine’s style editors to showcase the best new men’s style on offer. And more simply, the service elements of the magazine aim to keep the reader up to date on the latest style trends.

3) What does the article suggest about GQ's advertisers and sponsorships - and what in turn does this tell us about the GQ audience? 

Brands that want to promote themselves in the sphere of male, high-end, luxury lifestyle. So, everything from top-tier tailoring to the latest sports cars. Sponsors tend to be a little more fluid. These will often be the brands who, for instance, sponsor individual categories at the Men of the Year awards, or partner with GQ’s live talks event, GQ Heroes. These won’t necessarily be fashion brands, but crucially the goal will be to align their brand with the GQ one.

4) What is GQ Hype - and how does it reflect the impact of digital media on traditional print media?

GQ Hype is a weekly, online only cover. Celebrities – and their agents/publicists– naturally want a GQ print cover, but with only so many on offer, previously the drop-off from not getting a print cover could be drastic – simply offering them an online-only interview, say, which was understandably a less-

than-exciting prospect for established celebrities. GQ Hype was launched as a perfect middle-ground. With only one per week it still came with prestige, it was still a GQ cover, designed as one, and so that fact alone meant it would get more attention both on Instagram and Twitter than other online-only stories.

5) Finally, what does the article say about additional revenue streams for print magazines like GQ?  

Extra revenue streams are vital to the magazine business these days– it’s almost impossible to survive

without them. It’s about deciding the key areas in which the brand is strong and focussing on those, rather than expanding into areas you are not associated with.

Industries

Condé Nast

1) Who was previously GQ editor for 22 years? 

Dylan Jones

2) What happened to the 'lads' mag' boom magazines such as Nuts, Maxim and Loaded? 

Seven years ago Jones, who edited men’s monthly Arena in the 1990s, was credited with keeping GQ above water while others, such as Nuts, Maxim, Front and Arena closed down or, in the case of Loaded, went online only after circulation falls.

3) What changes have been taking place at Condé Nast in recent years and why? 

There's a growing list of Condé Nast editors who are leaving the publishing house recently as the company streamlines operations. According to the chief executive officer Roger Lynch, the aim is a stable of magazines that stay “digital-first and globally local with everything we do”. 

1) What does the article suggest about Condé Nast's recent strategy? 

The changes also involved a new focus on digital income streams over print advertising revenue, with about 25% of the company’s revenues over the next four years invested into prioritising the expansion of video and digital content to boost online subscriptions and e-commerce.

2) How does chief executive Roger Lynch describe Condé Nast and why? 

Roger Lynch describes Condé Nast as “no longer a magazine company,” saying it has “70 million people who read our magazines, but we have 300 something million that interact with our websites every month and 450 million that interact with us on social media”.

3) What does Adam Baidawi say about Condé Nast, GQ and culture? 

Baidawi told Press Gazette, “Conde Nast, as much as anything else, is in the business of shaping and reflecting culture. Culture moves, and we have to move with it.

1) How is Condé Nast moving away from traditional print products?

Condé Nast has announced 75 returning series and 50 new pilots across 17 brand channels for 2021-2022, capitalising on huge growth in streaming in the past year.

2) What examples are provided of Condé Nast's video and streaming content?

The company also launched Condé Nast Shoppable, a new video capability that provides buyable opportunities for viewers in real time. 

3) What does the end of the article suggest modern media audiences want? 

“Audiences want to be participants, not just passive viewers – and of course, they want content 100 per cent personalised for them,” said Chu.

GQ website, video and social media content 

1) What similarities do you notice between the website and the print edition of the magazine?

They both focus on featuring topics such as fashion, culture, lifestyle, luxury items such as watches however the website offers more information on these topics than the print edition of the magazine. 

2) Analyse the top menu of the GQ website (e.g. Fashion / Grooming / Culture). What do the menu items suggest about GQ's audience?

These menu items are quite expensive such as the watches, grooming, fashion etc which tells us that GQ audience is quite wealthy and has a lot of disposable income as well as the fact that they're interested in fashion, grooming, how they present themselves and their appearance. 

3) What does GQ's Instagram feed suggest about the GQ brand? Is this appealing to a similar audience to the print version of the magazine?

The GQ Instagram feed shows many medium shot pictures so that their viewers can look at the fashion of their models/celebrities. This is appealing to a similar audience to the print version of the magazine as GQ already in their print version portray medium or long shots of their celebrities to show off what they're wearing. 

4) In your opinion, is GQ's social media content designed to sell the print magazine or build a digital audience? Why?

I believe GQ's social media content is only designed to build a digital audience as they mainly focus on posting pictures of their celebrities and what they're wearing instead of promoting their print magazines. 

5) Evaluate the success of the GQ brand online. Does it successfully communicate with its target audience? Will the digital platforms eventually replace the print magazine completely?

I would say that GQ does successfully communicate with its target audience as it provides them with content they would be interested in such as fashion shoots, information about watches, pop culture, any recommendations GQ has, grooming and fitness. 

The impact of digital media on the print magazines industry

1) What statistics are provided to demonstrate the decline in the print magazines industry between 2010 and 2017? What about the percentage decline from 2000?

Sales of the top 100 actively purchased print titles in the UK fell by 42% from 23.8m to 13.9m between 2010 and 2017. Since the start of the internet era in 2000, the decline is 55% from 30.8m, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

2) What percentage of ad revenue is taken by Google and Facebook?

Around 90% of all new spend. 

3) What strategies can magazine publishers use to remain in business in the digital age?

Magazines need to have specific genres, aiming at a more niche audience who would be interested in the topics discussed in those magazines. As well as finding an advertisers which would promote products in your magazine that your audience may enjoy. 

4) What examples from the Guardian article are provided to demonstrate how magazines are finding new revenue streams?

Time Inc in the US, which publishes People, Fortune and Sports Illustrated, has just been sold to rival Meredith for $1.8bn. Immediate Media, which publishes 60 titles including Radio Times and Top Gear, was sold to the German publisher Hubert Burda, owner of Your Home and HomeStyle, for £270m.

5) Now think of the work you've done on GQ. How is GQ diversifying beyond print? 

GQ have been offering much more of their content online, by posting on their YouTube account content which is interesting as it allows the GQ audience to find out more from these celebrities, on their Instagram posting all the different fashion shoots/ what celebrities are wearing currently and their fashion style and offering many different sections and advice on their website for their audience.