Women's magazines: Style versus substance<\/p>\n
Zakki P. Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Who reads the numerous women's magazines on the market?
\nFor 27-year-old career woman Saraswati, the answer would be
\n\"housewives with lots of spare time or working women who are very
\naware of their appearance\".<\/p>\n
The stories in women's magazines are often padded with playful
\ngraphics and ads camouflaged as articles.<\/p>\n
But those magazine publishers certainly know how to attract
\ntheir prospective readers -- young women on good salaries living
\nin the countries' major cities, according to a recent survey by
\nNielsen Media Research.<\/p>\n
\"If I were a media owner, I would target the niche market with
\nthe highest consumption level -- young women with money at their
\ndisposal,\" AGB Nielsen Media Research Indonesia manager Hellen
\nKatherina said at a media gathering on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The National Media Index survey, representing 93 percent of
\nthe country's population over the age of 10 showed magazine
\nreaders were mostly females between the ages of 10 and 39 who
\nlived in urban areas.<\/p>\n
Hellen said a woman who subscribed to Femina would buy Her
\nWorld or Harper's Bazaar on the odd occasion, if the cover caught
\nher eye.<\/p>\n
\"This might explain why so many magazines are targeting that
\nsegment,\" she said, adding that more magazines would target women
\nin the future.<\/p>\n
Nielsen's survey showed that urban women enjoyed shopping more
\nthan rural women.<\/p>\n
About 44 percent of women in urban areas agreed to the
\nstatement \"I enjoy shopping\", compared to only 34 percent in
\nrural areas, Hellen said.<\/p>\n
This could be another reason why women's magazines are
\ndesigned with urban women in mind.<\/p>\n
\"Women's magazines are becoming too similar to one another,
\nthere's nothing really useful to read, plus they're overpriced
\n-- I've stop reading them, let alone buying them,\" said
\n\"Ariandi\", 27, who works for a leading manufacturing firm in
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
She said that women's magazines needed to be responsible and
\nnot simply encourage consumerism in women.<\/p>\n
However, sales of magazines like Cosmopolitan, which seem to
\nbe preoccupied with telling women what to buy, are not the
\nhighest in its class.<\/p>\n
Nielsen revealed that sales of Cosmopolitan were fourth
\nhighest among women's magazines, after the religious-themed
\nHidayah, teen magazine Aneka Yess! and Cosmopolitan's direct
\ncompetitor Femina.<\/p>\n
Five of Nielsen's top 10 magazines -- read by urban females in
\nthe high-income bracket who are aged between 20 and 29 and
\ngraduated from university -- are religious-themed magazines.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know whether or not it is a good thing. There are now
\nmore woman who read expensive magazines that are lacking in
\ncontent,\" Ariandi added.<\/p>\n
It seems that no matter who reads these magazines, the winners
\nare both men and women alike, publishers, advertising agencies,
\nmanufacturers -- and probably Nielsen?<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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