Highly Recommending: Magazine Readers ‘More Influential’ Than Other Media Users (New Report)

Nine out of ten Americans won’t agree on much this close to Election Day.

But there is one thing that unifies nearly 90% of adults these days.

Engaging with magazine media.

A News/Media Alliance report says 223 million Americans make up magazine media’s print and digital audience in 2024, with 87% engaging with magazine media in the last six months in a trend that’s “been stable over the last four years, indicating a strong and loyal magazine audience,” the report’s press release says. 

“Heavy magazine readers are more likely than other media users to say they use social media to rate or review a product or service on social media, and therefore may build a following and be regarded as influencers,” the release says. “Heavy magazine readers are also more influential than other media users in their recommendations to friends and family, neighbors or colleagues, and with others online and in stores, especially around healthcare and automotive products and services.”

The report puts particular focus on the proactive advertising-driven measures readers take, with 78% taking an action as a result of seeing an ad, including 25% who look for more information and 23% who visit an advertiser’s website. 57% say the ads they see “fit well” with the magazine content (as opposed to TV’s 39% and websites’ 40%).

“This latest data on the magazine audience demonstrates magazine readers’ continued appeal as a key target group for advertisers, as well as the wide-ranging benefits of magazines to their readers, reinforcing the value and effectiveness of magazine media for marketers in reaching key purchasing groups,” says News/Media Alliance president and CEO Danielle Coffey. “With our members, marketers can feel confident that their ads will always appear alongside trusted and credible content.”