1. The role of editorial in the financial health of magazine publishing.
“To survive, the magazine publishing industry is attempting to maintain editorial quality;
expand in ways other than increasing ad pages; charge readers more; look toward
international expansion; and take advantage of emerging technology.”(1)
The editorial team is made up of a number of areas each supporting the other, there are
two strands within a magazine editorial staff structure, the commercial strand and the
production strand. The internal structure of the magazine is a huge part of the financial
health of a magazine with each department supporting the other.
Editorial
 Publisher/editor
 Journalists
o Subeditors
o Production
 Art Directors/designers
 Photographers
 Webdesign
Commercial
 Management/Publishing
 Advertising
 Circulation
 Marketing
 Admin
 Finance
The lines separating the departments becomes increasingly blurred however as the
commercial side of magazines take more control over editorial to provide a higher turn over
this resulted in the formation of advertorials. “Advertisement features, or ‘advertorials’,
which are written in the house style of the host magazine, enable the advertiser to don the
mantle, use the voice and sport the values of the magazine… a reader normally immediately
recognises that an advertorial is a promotion and not a page of editorial, the reaction is

2. likely to be favourable. While display advertising is seen as providing subjective information
which is under the control of the advertiser, and editorial is seen as unbiased information
under the control of the editor, advertorials fit neatly in between. They are under the joint
control of the advertiser and the editor. The editor is there to represent the interests of the
reader and ensure fair play.”(2) This is basically saying that an advertorial is a hybrid system
between adverts and editorial, there are of course issues with advertorials such as
journalistic integrity balancing with the monetary needs of the magazine weighed up against
the wants of the advertisers, if an advertorial is not written in the manner that the
advertiser wishes the advertiser has a large amount of influence in the changing of the
article or they can simply withdraw from the advert, thus costing the magazine time and
income.
With the digital age magazines have to adapt to the much lower ad revenue from standard
advertisements at least in the online sector of the magazine
Well written copy and good content will keep readers enticed and therefore will create a
repeat customer providing a solid customer base this will provide the basis for magazines
selling ad space to companies.
Other ways to help editorial in the financial health of the magazine is to better the
relationship between magazines and advertisers, magazines are a forum where (consumers)
and advertisers could talk to each other and improve advertising itself.”(3) With improved
advertising consumers will be happier to read advertisements making magazine ads far more
effective and will allow a magazine to A) have more content for readers and B) able to charge
more for advertisements with the ad being of higher standard and or positioning.

3. Consumers are effected by seasonality so magazine editorial teams need to be able to adapt to
this and be at the forefront of the competition and corner the issues of the time for example
food magazines at Christmas offer Christmassy recipes etc the ability to adapt to the
consumer and their needs is the core of any business especially magazines where many
magazines on the shelves have a tough competition and on the shelves they are positioned
right next to their competition so the key is to stand out from the magazines next to it through
seasonal, topical and current affairs in the subject the magazine is for and for the front cover
to stand out compared to the others in its market. Editorial within magazines must provide a
magazine to the consumer that is attractive and eye catching this is done by the design
team in the creation of the title front cover and page design.
The editorial team also needs to satisfy the online community ads may be of lower value but
if the magazine can keep the online community satisfied the revenue made from online ads
will dramatically increase. Methods to increase the online footprint would be through
creating apps, podcasts, interactive content etc, Heat magazine is a clear example of this,
magazines can rarely in the current climate just be a magazine and must extend itself into a
brand with editorial moving online data becomes increasingly important magazines are
required to understand their readership in ways they have never done before, they need to
understand how and when the consumer uses the media, a common pattern known as the
“daily arc” which is the notion consumers have a standard working day and will check their
smartphones emails etc on a regular basis, a consumer wants information available for
when they are available for example when they wake up they want to know what is
happening in the world so information needs to be with them before they even wake up,
this is also the case for lunch breaks, commuting, waiting for dinner etc.

4. Other ways for editorial to assist in the financial side of the magazine is through thinking
globally with the world becoming increasingly more accessible so does the media writing
articles that will be accessible to other countries will yet again boost sales and allow a
broader range of advertisers to access the magazine.
Higher pagination means more content and or advertisements more pages may appear
more attractive to consumers the downside to higher pagination is the cost of the magazine
production will increase slightly.
References
1. RobertWorthington.(1994). RESEARCHREVIEW: MAGAZINEMANAGEMENTAND
ECONOMICS. [online]Available:http://www.cios.org/EJCPUBLIC/004/2/00425.html. [Last
accessed30/12/13.]
2. BauerMedia.(2013). Advertorials. [online]Available:
http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/solutions/detail/advertorials.[Lastaccessed
30/12/13.]
3. GloriaSteinem.(1990).Sex,Lies& Advertising. Advertising.N/A (28),171.