Contemporary context

Despite the major developments in how media is consumed in contemporary society, magazines are still a poignant form of advertising in the media market. Although magazines started targeting specific target audience of middle aged women, the stream and desire for magazines has expanded to reach not only the mass target audiences, but also now reaches niche audiences and different psychometrics and audience types. Although the amount and types of magazines have diversified in modern society, the majority of magazine houses are owned by major conglomerates, the most well known being Conde Nast and Hearst, which is applicable to this brief. Alongside the major owning conglomerates however, there are notable independent magazines that have made breakthroughs in the industry - such as the Big Issue and others. 

But as with many other media forms, like the news industry, as society moves into a more contemporary form the dependence and use of online forms of consuming media forms online. The rapid move away from print forms of media is reflective of the way that audiences prefer to consume their media. This change is representative of the development of technology and social media that occurred in the 90s and 2000s. Although its evident that print magazines on the whole are in decline, there is still a market for print magazines with younger target audiences (16-25) who by print magazines purely for gratification and aesthetic purposes.