New Market Report from News/Media Alliance provides trends, insights on valuable news and magazine audience for advertisers

Nowhere else can readers find the quality journalism and content that our members offer. From sports to politics to recipes to games to breaking news to investigative journalism, news and magazine media provide that brand safe environment where marketers can feel confident that their ads will always appear alongside trusted and credible content.”

Danielle Coffey, president and CEO, News/Media Alliance

Hundreds of millions of adults read news and magazine media each week. That finding and many others can be found in the newly released News/Media Alliance 2023 Market Report: News and Magazine Media: Providing a Trusted, Brand Safe Source for Reaching Engaged & Influential Audiences. The Market Report provides useful facts and figures on the news and magazine media audience and related benefits and advantages for marketers of advertising in print and digital news and magazine media.

A key overall finding of the Market Report is that the inherent value of the news and magazine media audience itself continues to be a huge benefit for advertisers due to their socioeconomic profile and strong purchasing history in several retail categories.

The report highlights the unique qualities of news and magazine media for advertisers, including a brand-safe environment; audience trust in and engagement with the advertising found in their products; a wealthier, more-educated audience than the average U.S. adult; news media reach of more than 116 million U.S. adult consumers, including 44 percent of adults; and magazine media reach of 224 million Americans in 2023.

The Market Report details how news and magazine media provide the best advertising strategies and channels to reach the desired audience(s). The report looks at key demographics of the news and magazine audience, such as income and education, as well as their buying and spending habits and their role as influencers in society which, taken together, make them a must-reach audience for advertisers.

Alliance Vice President of Research & Insights Rebecca Frank said, “We are excited to have this data to help us evolve the understanding of the value of news and magazine readers for advertisers, which we hope will sustain ad-supported media into the future.”

Today’s news and magazine companies are publishers of original content, providers of marketing services and experts on their readers and communities. Their solutions encompass a variety of customer-focused marketing solutions, from standard print and digital advertising to events, research and marketing services.

“Nowhere else can readers find the quality journalism and content that our members offer,” said Alliance President and CEO Danielle Coffey. “From sports to politics to recipes to games to breaking news to investigative journalism, news and magazine media provide that brand safe environment where marketers can feel confident that their ads will always appear alongside trusted and credible content.”

This is the first combined report on the unified news and magazine media industry under the News/Media Alliance, which last year merged with MPA, the Association of Magazine Media. Alliance members represent many of the largest and most renowned brands in the magazine and news publishing industries representing $45 billion in combined annual revenue.

The 66-page Market Report includes research and statistics from a wide range of sources, including MRI-Simmons, Nielsen Scarborough, Edelman Trust Barometer and more, which paint a comprehensive picture of the value of the news and magazine audience for advertisers.

Highlights from the 2023 Market Report include:

Reach:

• Our products reach hundreds of millions of Americans.
• Print and digital newspaper reach nearly half of all US adults (116 million or 44%)
• 45% of adult men engage with news media weekly, 43% of adult women.
• The US magazine audience reached 223.6 million Americans in 2023 (print + digital)
• 87% of US adults have read a magazine in the last 6 months.

Valuable Audiences:

• The news media audience is well-educated and high-income, with a median household income $8K higher than the national average.
• News audiences who access news via web/apps/mobile are younger (half are under age 44) and even higher-earning individuals.
• Nearly 9 in 10 Americans of all age groups have read magazine media in the past 6 months, with numbers increasing as age decreases.
• Black, Hispanic and LGBT Americans all read more print magazines per month than the U.S. average.

Trust:

• Traditional media sources are more trusted than owned and social media.
• Magazine readers are trusted by their communities and influence others’ purchases and make recommendations.
• Readers prefer magazines to internet, TV and radio on the topics of healthcare, automotive, vacation, finance, and food.

Spending Habits:

• News media reach not only high-value consumers, but those who make high-end purchases.
• News media reach 58% of households that own or lease a hybrid or electric car, 58% of households that own stocks, and 51% of shoppers who spent $2500 or more on internet purchases in the past year.
• Nearly 8 in 10 magazine readers who see an ad in their magazine take an action as a result.
• One in four readers looked for more information about the product/service, and one in five visited the advertiser’s website.

The Market Report is available exclusively to Alliance members on its website here (member login required). Advertisers and other who are not Alliance members who are interested in obtaining a copy of the report can request it here.