• by Michael Shields , September 13, 2004

Like the electronic media it competes with, the magazine industry is becoming more fragmented and niche-focused, according to findings of the 17th annual edition of the National Directory of Magazines, released Monday by Oxbridge Communications. The number of "lifestyle" magazines, for example, continues to rise, growing to 264 titles in 2004--up from only 206 in 2003.

The directory, which lists more than 18,821 business and consumer publications from the United States and Canada, saw several other niche magazine categories exhibit major growth from 2003 to 2004.

Interestingly, the "crafts" category was up 25 percent (129 publications from 103), while "Golf" was up 24 percent (135 publications from 109).

According to Editorial Director Deborah Striplin: "Magazines are becoming more focused. Growth is coming from both new publishers entering the category and existing publishers adding new lifestyle titles."

This trend also appears to be impacting the world of news and politics in magazines. The categories of "political science and politics" showed an increase of 23 percent, yet "news" magazine titles declined 24 percent and "History" titles decreased 23 percent.

This shift may also reflect a similar trend that has manifested itself in TV news--as more viewers have turned to cable networks that offer a particular point of view, like Fox News, rather than more straightforward news accounts.

"General news magazines aren't going away, but these niche political magazines with a particular point of [view] are growing--to supplement traditional general news magazines," said Striplin.

The loss of some news magazines may also be explained by the impact of the Internet, which limits how timely magazines can be reporting the news.

To that point, Striplin specifically mentioned blogging as potentially affecting magazine readership, although she expressed caution with regard to drawing any conclusions.

"Blogging is a developing media," she said. "We feel it's too early to say what its eventual effect will be on the magazine business."

Yet there is no doubt that magazines recognize the Internet's important role in delivering content.

The number of magazines available both in print and online climbed to 1,477 in 2004 versus 1,033 in 2003. The number of online-only magazines increased to 168 magazines from 124.

In additon to news, another category that appears to be eroding is "Management," which dropped 25 percent from 127 publications in 2003 to 95 in 2004, perhaps the result of a still-sluggish economy.

On the higher end of the spectrum, the report lists "College Student/Alumni" as its largest category, with 971 publications. "Medicine" with 965 publications and "Religion/Theology" with 724 publications round out the top three.

Overall, the new edition of the directory lists more than 1,174 new titles, as well as updates to 53 percent of the magazine listings--reflecting the many changes in the industry over the past year.