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The future of South Africa’s female consumer magazines : an analysis of Media24’s female consumer magazine titles

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / Globally and locally, print media publications and companies have been under immense pressure
as circulation and advertising revenues have declined steadily. The rise of the internet and
subsequently, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 created new platforms on which consumers can access
information. As a result, advertisers have followed consumers and have moved their funds away
from print to digital and broadcast portals. The impact of the changing environment and changing
media consumption behaviour on the newspaper industry has been well documented. This
research report sought to understand the impact of these changes in the environment on the
women’s magazine industry and to add to the lack of a body of knowledge in the academic sphere.
The researcher chose a sample of women’s magazine editors based on the non-probability
convenience sampling method, and to answer the research question, the researcher undertook a
qualitative research methodology study. The researcher held in-depth interviews with each editor
and open-ended questions were posed to them in order to understand their views on the future of
women’s magazines based on the media consumption behaviours of readers, the media
consumption behaviour of Millennials and the evolution of content and migration from print to
digital.
Findings from the survey revealed that the women’s magazine publishing industry has been in a
steady decline. Older and more established glossy magazines have struggled to stabilise
circulation figures. Consumer magazines in print format targeted at young females have closed
down in favour of digital platforms. The future of women’s magazines in South Africa is dependent
on the publishing companies’ ability to capture the Millennial consumer on appropriate and relevant
platforms, but the industry first has to understand the drivers for media consumption behaviour in
that particular market.
One of the researcher’s key findings from this research is that women’s magazines will not only
change platforms but that the old revenue model based on circulation and advertising revenue will
need to be replaced by a completely new business model.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/96200
Date12 1900
CreatorsKula, Loyiso
ContributorsTerblanche‒Smit, Marlize, Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Graduate School of Business.
PublisherStellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
Languageen_ZA
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Formatix, 50 p. : col. ill.
RightsStellenbosch University

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