The global growth of magazine publishing has a steady annual growth of 0.5% and 1%, which has been aided by mobile and tablet devices. This is thanks to certain publishers directing their content to a wider audience in the form of online digital content. Selected publishers use links and websites which are specific to campaigns, to build brand awareness with certain publishers who change the content of the magazine depending on the reactions from a live audience. An example of a publisher who created something digitally for it's audience, publisher GQ France launched a mobile app to offer online content alongside their print content. Instead of creating an online space for their audience, some magazine publishers update their magazines by improving the content to attract and gain more customers. Some consumers can be specifically targeted, as readers can personally chose what types of content they browse whilst searching for something to read. The future of magazines is interesting as there is a sharp increase of demand for interactive print magazines which engages the audience more than other types of print. The increased popularity of podcasts also helps magazines as it increases consumers who prefer a vocal format for entertainment compared to a narrative format. However, people prefer to read print in which they trust as 91% of UK magazine consumers say they trust the content they are consuming in magazines.
The migration of UK magazines to the internet has been aided by the COVID 19 pandemic that happened in 2020. However, with the pandemic there was a sharp increase in web usage and social media platforms such as Instagram became a visual rival for certain magazines targeted towards men. It would not have been long for magazines to go digital anyway as the circulation for print magazines has been in a heavy decline since the start of the 2010s. For example, Conde Nast was hit hard by the pandemic and no longer considers itself a magazine-based company, due to the switch to online content. Some would argue that despite not considering themselves to be a magazine company, Conde Nast still falls under the category of a 'Magazine-based' company as the definition of Magazine has been drastically changed over the last decade thanks to the influence of the internet. Alongside the definition of 'Magazine', the UK magazine revenue has changed drastically. Revenue for all magazine publishing companies has decreased and the pandemic was very influential in the decline of revenue, although throughout the 2010s, less people were buying magazines. This decline in print revenue has allowed for the digital revenue to catch up, as print revenue has fallen towards £200 million whilst digital revenue has risen above £300 million. Furthermore, two more factors of print magazine income have also seen a decrease in recent years. There are fewer print magazines in circulation, with circulation being more than halved in 22 years (1.6 billion in 2000, and 565 million in 2022), and consumers are spending less of magazines with only £669 million worth of magazines sold in 2020. Furthermore, the amount of titles that were on offer has decreased.
It can be difficult to understand the size of the UK magazine media market, as previous figures show that it is in decline. However, a lot of money is put into the magazine industry thanks to companies wanting adverts in the magazines. In 2022, companies such as Apple and Sainsbury's collectively spent 560.4 million on advertising in magazines. Another factor that plays into the size of the UK magazine media market is the audience. It is estimated that 76% of adults in the UK consume magazine media, with 63% of UK adults consuming magazines online.
Compared to the newspaper market, magazine ownership is more diverse. For example, Media conglomerates Bauer Media, Immediate Media Company, and Future PLC made up 37% of 2020 circulation. Furthermore, these conglomerates and many others in the magazine publishing business are family owned, with examples being the Bauer and Hearst families. An example of how big these publishers are is Bauer's TV choice magazine, which has a monthly 1.04 million circulation. Another conglomerate like Future has benefited in recent years as their publications owned almost doubled between 2019 and 2020, as it increased from 17 to 30. Futures' revenue has also benefited recently as it quadrupled between the years 2016 and 2019 (221.5 million)