MRI: Magazine Readers Getting Older

At a number of top American consumer magazines, the median age of readers crept up again between spring 2007 and spring 2008, according to data from Mediamark Research & Intelligence, which released figures from its national surveys on Tuesday. Of 100 leading magazines, 46 saw the median age of readers increase faster than the population at large, which aged 0.3 years (about three-and-a-half months) over the same period. Most of the rest increased at the same pace as the population at large.

The trend was not universal, as some notable examples saw the median age of readers go down. Some titles have fluctuated within a certain age range for years, meaning that the increases do not always signify a trend. However, at many titles the increase was substantial and appeared to be part of a long-term trend. Gender-specific figures were used for magazines targeting men or women.

Among the magazines that saw the biggest increases from spring 2007-spring 2008 were Elle Décor, where the median age of readers, for example, increased 3.7 years to 45.6, Harper's Bazaar, up 3.6 years, Home, up 2.9 years, Star, up 3.2 years, and Wired, up 3.7 years to 33.4 for male readers.

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The next tier included a number of business magazines, such as Forbes (2.2 years), Fortune (2.3 years), and Smart Money (2.3 years); Popular Mechanics was also up 2.1 years.

Experiencing more modest increases were Bon Appetit (1.5 years), Car and Driver (1.2 years), Good Housekeeping (1.2 years), GQ (1.5 years) Health (1.8 years), Money (1.2 years), O, the Oprah Magazine (1.3 years), Redbook (1.5 years), Scientific American (1.5 years), and Us Weekly (1.2 years).

Of the 46 titles that increased faster than the general population over the last year, 37 have also seen substantial increases in the median age of readers since 2003, suggesting a long-term trend. Home is up 6.9 years since spring 2003, Harper's Bazaar 6.8 years, Elle Décor 6.4 years, Star 5.1 years, Fortune 4.8 years, Bon Appetit 3.9 years, Popular Mechanics 3.9 years, Good Housekeeping 3.6 years, Redbook 3 years, and Forbes 2.6 years. For comparison, the median age of the adult population at large increased 1.3 years over the same period.

However, some magazines appear to be bucking the trend. Notable examples include New York magazine, where the median age of readers fell 7.9 years to 39.3; Latina, which fell 6.9 years to 31.2; Runner's World, down 2.7 years to 36.4; and Travel & Leisure, down 2.2 years to 48.8.

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