Magazine Audience

The aging of the U.S. population is reflected in the ages of the magazine readers, as well. And the slight and steady increase in the U.S. incomes also comes through in the magazine readership data (a sampling of some 27,000 households by the marketing firm MRI).23 Some small moves in the audiences of individual magazines seemed to counter those trends, but such changes might be caused by differences in the sample taken — particularly as regards smaller readerships, where even a small difference in sample can mean big changes.

Every title we examined had a higher average-age readership in 2005 than it did in our baseline year of 1995, except the Atlantic . That wasn’t profiled by MRI until 1997 and had a baseline-year age of 51.5 years.24 In 2005 the average age of all the news titles we look at was 46.3 years, up from 45.4 in 2004.25 This marks the first time the average age has climbed over 46, and it is now more than two years above the average age of the adult U.S. population, which sits at 44.26

Average Age of News Magazine Readers

Compared to U.S. population, 1995 - 2005

Design Your Own Chart

Source: MediaMark Research, ’’Magazine Audience Estimates’’

Among the more peculiar findings is the average-age decline for the Atlantic . It still has the oldest readership among the news titles we look at, but its average reader went from 50.9 years old in 2004 to 49.7 in 2005.27 Again, such fluctuations aren’t uncommon with the MRI data, and further years would need to point in the same direction to be a real trend. Still, the Atlantic was the only news title that saw a declining readership age.

Jet’s readership age has changed the most over time, from an average of 33.6 years in 1995 to over 40 this year.28

Looking at other titles, the New Yorker’s average age rose from 46.8 in 2004 to 48.4 in 2005, Newsweek went from 45.9 to 46.6, Time climbed from 44.6 to 45.7, and U.S. News grew from 45.9 to 46.8.29

Average Age of Readership by Magazine

1995 - 2005

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Source: MediaMark Research, ’’Magazine Audience Estimates’’

Taken together the readers of the news magazines continue to be a wealthy segment of society — and growing wealthier as they separate from the average American. The average household income for the news titles MRI gathers data on was $67,003 in 2005, up from $65,958 in 2004.30 Comparing 1997, the first year MRI gathered information on all six of the titles we study, with 2005 makes the trend pretty clear. The gap between news magazine readers and the general U.S. population is as high as it has ever been — about $15,000.31 Ten years ago it was only about $10,000.

Average Income of News Magazines Readers

Compared to U.S. population, 1995 - 2005

Design Your Own Chart

Source: MediaMark Research, ’’Magazine Audience Estimates’’

In 1997 the average income of news magazine readers was $50,807, while the U.S. Adult population had an average household income of $39,025 — a difference of $11,782.32 In 2005 the difference between those two groups was $15,537 in household income — $67,003 for news magazine households compared to the U.S. average of $51,466.33

When it comes to the individual titles, The Atlantic had good year according to the MRI survey. Not only did its readership get younger, it got richer — quite a bit richer actually. The household income of the average Atlantic reader climbed $4,000 in one year from $81,571 in 2004 to 85,572 in 2005.34

Jet, on the other hand, had double-barreled bad demographic news. Its readers not only got older, they got poorer. The readership saw a $600-plus drop in household income, from $36,755 in 2004 to $36,093 in 2005. But Jet wasn’t alone. Newsweek also saw a small dip, from $67,964 in 2004 to $67,842 in 2005.35

The other three titles we look at saw small bumps. The New Yorker’s readership went from $79,005 in household income in 2004 to $80,957 in 2005. Time saw an increase from $65,269 to $66,176. And U.S. News went from $65,181 to $65,379.36

Average Income of Readership by Magazine

1995 - 2005

Design Your Own Chart

Source: MediaMark Research, ’’Magazine Audience Estimates’’

This trend showing news magazine readers coming increasingly from wealthier households reflects what may be a long-term problem for the nation in a larger sense.

News magazines have traditionally occupied a special place among American news media. Time magazine was created by Henry Luce so that people living in areas where national and world news coverage was scarce could keep up with the events of the day. It made for a better, more knowledgeable electorate. If economic stratification of news magazine readership signals a broader economic stratification in news awareness, the implications for a democratic society could be stark. It could leave larger parts of the electorate uninformed, under-informed or misinformed.

Add into this dilemma the growing age gap — not only in news magazine readership but throughout much of the news media— and there are even more troubling signs.

But there are hopeful signs as well. Though there are no hard, audited figures, The Week, as it gains in circulation, reports it is doing particularly well with younger audiences. And its lower newsstand price could theoretically attract more lower-income readers.