Teenagers are one of the fastest-growing market segments in America. There are nearly 31 million teenagers in the United States, and according to Teenage Research Unlimited (TRU), a market research firm that specializes in teens, they spend more than $155 billion a year.While their numbers and purchasing power make them a very attractive segment for marketers, teens are very difficult to reach—particularly through magazines. Teenagers spend a lot more time listening to radio,watching TV, and surfing the Internet than reading magazines. And while teenagers in general are an elusive segment for advertisers, young males are a particularly difficult audience to capture.
According to TRU, 80 percent of girls between the ages of 12 and 19 read a magazine for pleasure every week compared to only 65 percent of boys. The Big Five teen magazines—Seventeen, YM, Teen, Teen People, and CosmoGirl—all target girls. Only Teen People manages to pull in a sizable male audience, as male teens account for around 20 percent of its readers. Conventional wisdom in the magazine industry says that teenage males are too antsy to cozy up with a magazine for any length of time. And when they do, they tend to read publications such as Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, or niche titles catering to specific interests such as extreme sports or video gaming. Publishers also note that teen guys are so worried about being teased by friends for needing advice on things such as muscle building or snagging girls that they balk at picking up magazines that deal with these topics. And today,no matter how racy the content, it’s difficult for a magazine to compete with the raw subject matter available on the Internet and many cable TV channels.
While few magazines have been successful in reaching the elusive teenage male segment on a large scale, publishers continue to look for the right formula to do so. After years of watching girl-oriented magazines dominate the teen-glossies market, a number of publishers are trying to lure teenage boys. For example, Rodale Inc. created a spin-off of its Men’s Health magazine for teen guys called MH-18. The new magazine’s content was similar to the girl’s magazine Seventeen as it included boyish lifestyle fare: workout plans, girlkissing tips,and ways to boost grades.When MH-18 was launched in August 2000, the editor acknowledged that it was a risky venture as he was not sure how teen guys would respond to the new magazine. It did not take long for him to get an answer: MH-18 lasted only one year before being shuttered by the publisher. While MH-18 was unsuccessful with a fairly tame editorial mix, another publisher, TransWorld Media, is taking a different approach with its publication Stance, which debuted in early 2000. The new publication takes its cover-shot and content cues from adult magazines such as Gear, Maxim, Stuff, and FHM. Stance’s publisher says that the magazine is a combination of the things teenage boys want to look at: girls, action sports, video games, cars, and music. Stance steers clear of grooming articles and girlgetting pointers, focusing more on cool stuff to buy such as computers and video game players and exotic things to do such as snowboarding in Austria. The magazine has been very successful in attracting readers as well as a variety of advertisers.
Marketers will be keeping a close watch on Stance and other new magazines that target the elusive teen male market. Advertisers would love to see magazines that can attract teenage boys succeed so that they can beter target this important market segment. Publishers have already proved that they can attract teenage girls.Now if they can only get the guys to pick up a magazine!
