magazine that covers a broad or narrow interest and is directed to the general public, as distinguished from a trade magazine (professional magazine), which is geared toward the interests of a specific industry or occupation. A consumer magazine may be distributed free of charge or sold, according to the marketing goals of the publisher. New York Woman was introduced in 1986 as a free magazine sent to prestigious women in New York and was then converted to a paid magazine as it gained a reputation. Magazines are distributed free of charge to encourage advertisers to place ads in an untried publication going to individuals the advertiser wants to reach.
The publisher determines whether a magazine is classified as trade or consumer by defining the target market. For example, Advertising Age is a trade publication targeted to professionals and business organizations involved with advertising. Business Week is a consumer magazine-even though it deals with business-related topics and has a corporate audience-because it is marketed to the general public. Other consumer magazines cover a wide variety of interests that may be either narrowly targeted, such as Ski magazine, or broadly targeted, such as Life magazine. Most consumer magazines are audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
