GQ - Audience & Industries
Audience
Look through the GQ Media Kit and answer the following questions:
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?
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.
7.3M
TOTAL REACH - How many people the magazine will reach
212K
READERSHIP - How many people will actually read the magazine
1.8M
SOCIAL FOLLOWERS - The magazines followers and viewers on social media
4) Look at page 3 - brand highlights. What special editions do GQ run and what do these suggest about the GQ audience?
GQ HEROES: ISSUE & EVENT / GQ HYPE / MEN OF THE YEAR / TENTPOLE VIDEO AND SOCIAL SERIES
Suggests that it is heavily male audiences that read GQ
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.
Media Magazine feature: GQ
Go to our Media Magazine archive and read the article on GQ (MM82 - page 12). Answer the following questions:
1) What are the elements that go into choosing a cover stars for GQ?
Choosing covers is, by turns, the most rewarding and most infuriating part of the job of working on a glossy magazine. In the UK, getting the cover right is paramount – at GQ especially, most sales of the magazine are retail rather than subscription, so the cover has a huge impact on sales (for whatever reason, this is flipped in America, where the majority of sales come from subscription, meaning you can screw up the odd cover without too much consequence). The mistake, though, is to simply try to get the most famous person for any given month who has a ‘hook’ – a ‘hook’ being a film/ TV show/ album etc they’re promoting, and hence the reason they would do the cover in the first place – but the reality is this often doesn’t work. 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?
if a cover star is a ‘GQ cover’, while also trying not to let ourselves to become too restricted by it. Put another way: just because the standard GQ cover would be a cool actor in his mid-30s experiencing a career spike, we would never only feature that type of cover, as the magazine would become predictable and boring very quickly.
Fundamentally, GQ is a men’s style magazine, and so GQ is always in service to that, both in print and online. Certainly, GQ wouldn’t consider itself just this – at its best, it’s also a brilliant forum for excellent profile writing and world-class photography and design, along with award-winning long form 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?
in terms of advertisers, is 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. These brands are often heritage brands, so the names wouldn’t change much from month tomonth, or year to year. 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 – a Chinese mobile phone manufacturer with a new luxury phone, for instance, may want to sponsor a Men of the Year award as GQ readers would be their target market, and the winner of the award will, of course, likely be a famous, aspirational individual. The only problem that potentially
arises is if a brand feels that, by sponsoring an award, they have a say in who wins it – they don’t, and GQ could never guarantee any individual winner anyway, as there are so many factors involved.
4) What is GQ Hype - and how does it reflect the impact of digital media on traditional print media?
One key launch, though, was GQ Hype – 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. So, 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 focusing on those, rather than expanding into areas you are not associated with. So, along with the annual Men of the Year awards – using GQ’s unparalleled celebrity contacts – GQ also had an annual car awards, and a food and drink awards. All subjects covered in the magazine, but crucially, focusing on high-end and luxury, as the magazine does. GQ’s most recent innovation was the GQ Heroes event, where revenue is generated by both ticket prices and sponsorship.Industries
Your industries contexts are divided into three areas - Conde Nast, GQ's website and social media content and the impact of digital media on print industries.
Condé Nast
Read this Guardian news article on editorial changes at Condé Nast and answer the following questions:
1) Who was previously GQ editor for 22 years?
Dylan Jones, who has presided over men’s style bible GQ for 22 years, is to step down.
2) What happened to the 'lads' mag' boom magazines such as Nuts, Maxim and Loaded?
Jones has distanced himself from the “lads’ mag” boom of the 1990s, saying it “denigrated our culture”, but he continued to argue that a successful magazine needs “a libido, whether you are French Vogue or Vanity Fair”. He also survived criticism in 2008 for his book Cameron on Cameron, a fly-on-the-wall appreciation of the prospective Conservative prime minister, which contained flattering statements such as “I think you acquitted yourself very well on Jonathan Ross,” and “you seem more confident than you’ve ever been”.
3) What changes have been taking place at Condé Nast in recent years and why?
growing list of Condé Nast editors to leave 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”. The exodus began last year when Angelica Cheung departed Vogue China after 15 years, Christiane Arp left Vogue Germany and Eugenia de la Torriente left Vogue Spain. Earlier this month both Vogue India editor Priya Tanna and Vogue Japan editor Mitsuko Watanabe left their publications
Read this Press Gazette article on Conde Nast. Answer the following questions:
1) What does the article suggest about Condé Nast's recent strategy?
Last year Conde Nast merged the global editorial teams at several of its international magazine brands including GQ, Wired, Vogue and Conde Nast Traveller under a new digital-first strategy designed to produce less duplication of content.
2) How does chief executive Roger Lynch describe Condé Nast and why?
Last month, chief executive Roger Lynch told the New York Times the digital-first changes meant Conde Nast was “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?
GQ deputy global editorial director Adam Baidawi told Press Gazette that despite the digital-first switch print magazines had not been significantly affected. GQ, he said, was “as good as it’s ever been” as he reported a 77% year-on-year increase in its newsstand sales for its March 2022 edition. Baidawi, who also serves as GQ UK’s head of editorial content, highlighted that across its titles, Conde Nast had seen more than 14 billion annual video views in 2021, up 18% from 2020, as well as a 38% overall increase in digital ad revenues.
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. “If you take GQ, for instance, I don’t think we were in a position to shape and reflect culture with 21 siloed businesses around the world centred around print products.” He added: “I think our previous model worked really well for a very, very long time. I also think it was very romanticised and that over years it became less and less sensical in a globalised world.”
Read this FIPP feature on Condé Nast diversifying into video and streaming content. Answer the following questions:
1) How is Condé Nast moving away from traditional print products?
The company is focusing on reaching those segments of its audience who do not watch traditional broadcast and cable networks.
2) What examples are provided of Condé Nast's video and streaming content?
“Last year we announced the launch of the Condé Nast Influence Network, our alternative to traditional broadcast and cable networks, showcasing our unmatched ability to create video content that resonates with consumers and drives the cultural conversation,”
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
Visit the GQ website, Instagram and YouTube channel. Note that some of these may be blocked in school. Once you have looked over GQ's online content, answer the following questions:
1) What similarities do you notice between the website and the print edition of the magazine?
Typography is the same and overall visual style. The colour scheme and logo.
2) Analyse the top menu of the GQ website (e.g. Fashion / Grooming / Culture). What do the menu items suggest about GQ's audience?
The presence of a "Fashion" category means that GQ's audience is likely interested in staying up-to-date with the latest trends, brands, and style advice. The part of a "Culture" category means that GQ's audience is culturally engaged and interested in a wide range of topics such as music, film, literature, art, technology, and current events
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?
GQ's Instagram feed includes high-quality, aesthetically appealing images that reflect the magazine's sophisticated and stylish aesthetic this is similar to the print version
4) In your opinion, is GQ's social media content designed to sell the print magazine or uild a digital audience? Why?
I think the social media content is used as a way of promoting GQ's print magazine by posting snippets of photoshoots and interviews to drink interest and hopefully and increase in subscriptions. However there is a social media strategy to build their digital audience because of the behind the scenes content
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?
GQ have a success brand online with increasing audience engagement on posts and on Instagram and Facebook, Social media has pushed the relevancy of the GQ magazine
The impact of digital media on the print magazines industry
Read this Guardian feature on the struggles of the UK print magazine industry and answer the following questions:
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 – those that readers buy or subscribe to – 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?
Google and Facebook account for 65% of the $6.5bn (£4.7bn) UK digital display ad market. They are also strangling attempts by magazine and newspaper publishers to build their digital ad revenues by taking about 90% of all new spend.
3) What strategies can magazine publishers use to remain in business in the digital age?
“Magazines do still play an important part in client schedules – if circulation is holding up,” says Phil Hall, the chief commercial strategy officer at the media buying agency Media Com. “But the issue at the moment is there is a glut of titles that are too similar, too generic. Reaching audience at scale is key to many advertisers and if readers are falling away then that’s a major issue.” Specialist magazines, catering for more niche audiences with interests ranging from shooting to model railways and ponies, are likely to always have a print fan base.
4) What examples from the Guardian article are provided to demonstrate how magazines are finding new revenue streams?
Nevertheless, mounting pressure on the traditional print magazine business, which still drives most revenues, is forcing consolidation as publishers seek scale to survive. Time Inc in the US, which publishes People, Fortune and Sports Illustrated, has just been sold to rival Meredith for $1.8bn; the UK arm was picked up by Epiris. Last year, 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?
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