Magazines: GQ - Audience & Industry

Audience

Look through the GQ Media Kit and answer the following questions: 

1) How does the media kit introduction describe GQ?

a flagship of men's style and fashion 

2) What does the media kit suggest about masculinity? 

it is evolving so is making men's fashion increasingly popular

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

61% are ABC1 - they are mostly upper or middle class who money to spend

£138k is the average household income of the people who read GQ 

£7.7k a year they spend on fashion annually which means they care and value how they look

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 From the idyllic setting of Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire comes GQ’s first flagship event of the year. GQ Heroes is a festival of ideas that brings together gamechangers, creative radicals, deep thinkers and cultural icons for three days of panels and live performances.

MEN OF THE YEAR In 2021, the iconic British GQ Men of the Year Awards reached a truly global audience, with more than 3,200 news articles generating over 9.8 billion views.

TENTPOLE VIDEO AND SOCIAL SERIES British GQ’s video series drew more than 45 million views in 2021 – with viewers watching more than 10 million hours of content.

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

the audience has grown 30% online so more people are preferring the online version to the print

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? 

the most famous person that month who is currently in a new project like a releasing a film they starred in, there could also be no "hook" as someone famous could appear in GQ to help their own brand image

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

they  really put the main focus on the men's style offered in the magazine as they know that is what the audience mainly wants

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

High end luxury lifestyle brands - shows that the audience value the brands and the wealth and class associated with them

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

 

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?  

Its impossible for them to survive without other revenue streams, they still exclusively focus on high end luxury brands

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

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

He has tried to distance himself from it

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

They are trying to be more careful as people have been exposed for saying things that tarnish their reputation

Read this Press Gazette article on Conde Nast. Answer the following questions:

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

producing less duplications of content

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

he said that they are no longer a magazine company as way more people interact with them online than in print

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

it is in the business of shaping and reflecting culture and that print sales actually went up for them

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?

shifting towards online digital work rather than print as more people interact with them online

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

being able to click to buy an outfit whilst watching the vogue fashion shows 

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?

very focused around the celebrities 

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 audience want to better their lives and value materialistic things and clearly care about their image

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?

It shows more of the celebrity content and behind the scenes, I think that the Instagram is aimed at a younger audience

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

I think its more to build a digital audience as on their Instagram they barely post anything about what's actually in the magazine and even in their broadcast channel they talk more about the celebrities in general and not the magazine so I don't think they are trying to get people to actually physically buy the magazine

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 think that it is successful digitally and as a print magazine and that it targets its original audience through the print version and the events that they hold but target a younger audience digitally and help grow their brand which increases sales on the print magazine. I think that eventually digital platforms will fully replace magazines but probably not for a while as there is still a large audience of people who buy them and people may get internet fatigue so people might prefer having the magazine like how young people still buy CDs and Vinyls even though you can listen to anything online