Dating, Driving and Dish
Previously dismissed as the unsophisticated kid sisters to women’s fashion magazines, teen publications are blossoming, luring top advertisers and posting some of the industry’s most impressive readership gains.
Recently, blue-chip advertisers such as General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Best Foods and Frito-Lay have recognized the muscle of girl power, inspired by research suggesting that upon reaching adulthood, teens may wield as much marketing clout as their baby-boomer parents.
The push to reach teens has heightened the allure of teen magazines, which have built followings by telling young women how to snag dates to the prom and select the coolest clothes and by serving up the latest dish on stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio and the cast of “Party of Five.”
Teenagers are snatching up magazines faster than the latest nail color, boosting the ad revenue and circulation of longtime favorites Seventeen, Teen and YM, and giving rise to newer titles such as Teen People, Jump, Twist and All About You.
“Teenage girls are voracious readers of magazines,” said Michael Wolf, senior partner at Booz Allen & Hamilton, a New York consulting firm. “They use these magazines to get information about everything from health [and] fashion [to] sex, giving advertisers a direct pipeline to this valuable audience.”
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Despite girls’ tendency to read more than one magazine, Wolf doesn’t believe all the publications will survive, though he believes there is room for newcomers. He predicts Seventeen, Teen and YM will continue to attract a following.
Each magazine attempts to carve out a niche, appealing to slightly different age groups and interests. The market’s perennial leader is Seventeen, known in the industry as a “junior Vogue,” with its fashion, beauty and entertainment coverage that appeals to mostly high school and college audiences. Teen and YM also focus on beauty, fashion and relationships, but they tend to be quicker reads that draw slightly younger audiences. Newcomer Teen People concentrates on celebrities and entertainment, while Jump has a health, sports and fitness niche, and Twist strives to be a down-to-earth alternative.
The differences aren’t always obvious. Seventeen, YM and Teen People all recently featured teen idol DiCaprio on their covers.
YM and Seventeen finished first and second, and Teen ranked seventh in a survey of magazines that had the biggest newsstand sales gains between 1987 to 1997, according to Capell’s Circulation Report.
Such gains have allowed Seventeen, Teen and YM, along with the new Teen People, to raise the circulation they guarantee to advertisers.
Teen magazines are thriving thanks to the growing ranks of young people between the ages of 12 and 19. The count now stands at 30.8 million, a boost of almost 3 million since 1993. By 2010, the group will grow by another 4.2 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Marketers are looking at those numbers and realizing that if they don’t try to reach this burgeoning group now, their competitors will. They also believe by building brand loyalty at an early age, they are likely to win customers of the future.
“Marketers are recognizing how completely influential this group is when it comes to driving up their sales,” said Alyce Alston, publisher of YM, which last year drew 45 new advertisers, including Coke, Plymouth, Sears and Macy’s. “A lot of marketers already are interested, while some are putting their toes in this market and relying on us to help them understand it better.”
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Today’s teens may not hold high-paying jobs. But they’re generally regarded as being more sophisticated than their predecessors, armed with more cash and having more of a say in family purchases. In addition to automobile and beauty companies, packaged-goods and entertainment companies are stepping up efforts to tap into the teen market.
“What’s happening is that young women are playing much more of an important role in their households, because so many of them have mothers that work,” said Lori Burgess, Seventeen’s publisher. “Many of them have their own cars because they have to transport their younger siblings. They also are purchasing food for their families.”
Last year, teens spent $122 billion, according to Teenage Research Unlimited, which tracks the teen market. A Rand Youth Poll study showed female teens spent nearly $50 billion last year, mostly on clothing, jewelry, beauty product, entertainment and food.
The extraordinary success of the film “Titanic,” whose core following has been teenage girls flocking to see the movie numerous times, showed just how influential teenagers can be.
“ ‘Titanic’ was not a fluke,” said Nora McAniff, publisher of Teen People, which specializes in entertainment and celebrity coverage. “The teen population clearly made it successful.”
As the market leader, Seventeen leads in ad revenue. Early this year, the Primedia publication jacked its ad rate base from 2 million to 2.3 million and is considering another hike since it actually sells about 2.5 million magazines each month. The magazine also saw its ad revenue rise from $14 million during the first three months of 1997, to $17.5 million during the same period this year.
Gruner & Jahr Publishing’s YM also recently raised its rate base by 100,000 to 2.15 million and posted a 30% increase last year in ad revenue.
Los Angeles-based Petersen Publishing’s Teen, with a circulation of 1.9 million, likewise plans to increase its ad rate base in July from 1.85 million to 2 million.
“We’re seeing a lot of advertisers that have never been interested in us before,” said Linda Platzner, group publisher at Petersen youth group, adding that Frito-Lay, Calvin Klein, J.C. Penney and Coppertone have all begun advertising in Teen for the first time.
With only four issues behind it, Time Inc.’s Teen People already is considered one of the hottest magazine launches of the year.
After debuting in January with a guaranteed circulation of 500,000, the magazine just announced it will raise its rate in August to 800,000, a conservative hike considering the magazine already sells about a million copies.
“The teen category is hot, and we came in and ignited it,” McAniff said.
McAniff said she has resisted raising the rate any higher because it would prohibit the magazine’s editor from experimenting with cover subjects. So far the magazine’s covers have featured Jennifer Love Hewitt, Drew Barrymore, Sean “Puffy” Combs and DiCaprio.
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“It would put an extraordinary amount of pressure on the editor to have a newsstand blockbuster every month,” said McAniff, also publisher of People magazine. “But we want to explore and test our appeal.”
Torrance-based Toyota made its debut in the teen magazine market by advertising in the first four issues of Teen People.
“We don’t have a product tailored to kids in high school, but as kids get to be of driving age, they may be looking for their first car, and we want them to know Toyota is a friendly and reliable company,” said Mike Bevan, Toyota’s national advertising manager.
Bevan said people, including some of his co-workers, were surprised to see the Toyota ads in Teen People. But Toyota is making an investment in its future, he said.
“We’ve seen the research, and we know we have to keep our name in front of kids,” he said.
In the past, Chanel advertised in only one teen magazine, Seventeen. But it now places ads in YM and Teen People as well. This year, the company also sponsored Seventeen’s model of the year contest.
“This is part of our long-term strategy,” said Jean Zimmerman, Chanel’s senior vice president of marketing and sales. “These girls may be coming to the Chanel counter and finding the next hot nail color. We hope when they’re ready to buy lipstick, they’ll come back to Chanel.”
Despite positive early feedback, it’s still too early to tell whether newcomers such as Weider Publication’s Jump and Bauer Publishing’s Twist will become favorites with the fickle teenage crowd. Indeed, last year’s closing of Sassy showed that even well-touted titles can falter.
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Teen Readers
The leading magazines have been drawing more readers and advertisers in recent years, spurring new publications into the market.
AVERAGE MONTHLY CIRCULATION: In millions:
1998
Seventeen: 2.5
YM: 2.2
Teen: 1.9
AD REVENUE: January through March, in millions:
1998
Seventeen: $17.5
YM: $7.1
Teen: $6.1
NEW MAGAZINES: Recent publications aimed at teen readers:
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Magazine Year launched Teen People 1998 Jump 1997 Twist 1997 Teen Sport 1998
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