Magazine industry body group Magazine Networks has released (exclusively to B&T) the findings of a report into the attitide of Australian magazines readers that found 75 per cent are “inspired” by fashion magazines, 68 per cent had been influenced by ads they saw in fashion magazines, and 72 per cent admitted they’d been influenced by the products they’d seen in the editorial pages of fashion titles.

The study was done by the reseach agency Fiftyfive5 and surveyed over 2000 Australian magazine readers on their attitudes to a number of typical magazine categories such as fashion, food, liefstyle and home. Although the information released to B&T was solely around fashion and didn’t specify the age or sex of participants.

The chief findings of the study (around the fashion category) included:

• Thirty-five per cent of respondents read only print editions of fashion magazines. Twenty-six per cent read both print and online. While 39 per cent read online only.
• Seventy-five per cent of respondents agreed they were “inspired by fashion magazines”.
• Sixty-eight per cent agreed they’d been influenced by ads they’d seen in fashion magazines.
• Seventy-seven per cent agreed they felt more informed after reading a fashion title.
• Seventy-two per cent said they’d been influenced by products they’d seen in magazine editorials and fashion spreads.
• A quarter admitted fashion magazines made them search out featured brands they’d seen in magazines.
• Forty-two per cent said fashion magazines “build desire” and 63 per cent said they “drove advocacy”.

The graph below shows respondents general views of Australian fashion magazines and fashion websites.

Speaking on the research, Magazine Networks executive director Mary Ann Azer, told B&T: “We commissioned the work to understand the attitudes and behaviors and the reactions to magazine media in print and digital formats.

“We looked at people who read magazines and then broke them down into categories to gauge their reactions; things like food, fashion, health. What we wanted to do was find out how well readers were engaged in that category and see how they responded to the ads and the editorial both in print and digital forms.

“Our aim is to take this data out to the agencies to show that magazines – both in print and digital – are still a very powerful medium. Particuarly when it comes to influencing decisions about purchase for things like fashion.

“Eighty six per cent of respondents to the survey said they felt very positive about the magazines brands they read. People who read magazines do love them,” Azer said.