• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, March 20, 2006

Defying the conventional wisdom that teens don't read, a flurry of new magazines are hitting the market aimed at the youth market. At least three new titles launching during the first half of 2006 are targeting the youth market with cultural and sports themes, according an update released last week by The Launching Pad.

One magazine, Bridgez, targets the Hispanic hip-hop demographic, including teens. The second, Smash, is a niche publications for tennis enthusiasts. And the third, True Girl, discusses fashion, music, and social matters for Catholic teen girls. These launches come after the premiere in the second half of 2005 of other niche teen mags like ASX, Fantasy Sports Reporter, FGBG, Freeskier, Game, Loud, Prep Traveler, True, and Y:L.

"The idea that teens don't read is just a huge myth," according to Samir Husni, a professor at the University of Mississippi who closely tracks new magazine launches and the magazine market generally. In fact, "Teen magazines have witnessed a great increase in reach and numbers over the last few years," Husni went on. "We have more teen magazines now than ever."

While many magazines targeting teens have indeed experienced trouble, Husni explained this is at least in part the result of so many new magazines entering the market--a trend that bolsters his contention that there is a robust demand for magazines among teens: "There's definitely a market. The reason that teen magazines might be hurting is because they are reading all these weeklies that are coming out--like InTouch, InStyle, Celebrity Living--that attract a lot of teen readers."

Of course, Husni's examples also point to a major gender division in magazine consumption, with titles targeting girls dominating the market. Debbie Solomon, senior partner and group research director for MindShare, agreed with this distinction: "The teen market--especially teen girls--is really strong for magazines. All you have to do is look at the success of titles that have come out recently like Teen Vogue and Cosmo Girl." Teenage boys are less likely to read magazines, Solomon went on, simply because "they're lighter users of most media."

Titles that do succeed in targeting teenage boys include sports enthusiast publications like Smash as well as PC gaming magazines, according to Solomon: "If you look at more enthusiast kinds of titles--extreme sports magazines, video game magazines--there are some pretty avid readers who are reliable consumers."

But these numbers dwindle in comparison to the teen girl market, which supports a cornucopia of eye-catching glossies. "Teenage girls are just sponges for information," Solomon explained. "Magazines are giving them information that they crave. They have things in magazines that they can share with their friends. You provide them with information about beauty tips, dating, the more awkward questions that they're afraid to talk about--they want to absorb it all."