Magazines: Oh Comely - Audience

Magazines: Oh Comely - Audience

Our second Magazine Close-Study Product is the niche women's lifestyle publication Oh Comely.

We need to study both the target audience for Oh Comely and the audience pleasures that readers get from the magazine.

Notes from the lesson

Oh Comely magazine is a niche women’s lifestyle publication with a strong feminist perspective. It launched in 2010 and publishes six issues a year. It describes itself:

“Oh Comely is a curious, honest and playful independent magazine. It’s a place to meet strangers, hear their stories and look at life a little differently – where our readers are our writers and our models, too.

“Each issue we pick a theme and see where it takes us. We try something old, something new and something that scares us a bit. Then we present our findings in a beautiful, artbook style, putting new writing, photography and illustration talent at the heart of it.”

[Source: Oh Comely magazine website]

Oh Comely audience

Social Media Reach: 100,000 
Readers Per Issue: 25,000 
Average Age of reader: 27 
Sold through independents, WHSmith and international outlets


Oh Comely offers: “Access to a difficult to reach and highly-targeted niche demographic of creative women who spend money on the things they love.”

“Oh Comely is a powerful mix of words and pictures, stylishly presented and much loved by its readers. It provides an alternative to the ‘pile-it-high-sell-it-cheap’ aesthetic of mainstream magazines for young women, and this is why it has carved a loyal niche of fans. It is a breath of fresh air for a creative audience desperate to find something that speaks to them directly in an accessible, intelligent and interesting voice.”

[Source: ohcomely.co.uk/advertise]

Psychographics

Oh Comely magazine's description of itself would suggest targeting the Reformer and Explorer psychographic groups with an emphasis on creativity, self-discovery and a rejection of consumerism and commercialism.

Audience pleasures

There are many potential audience pleasures for Oh Comely readers. Applying Blumler & Katz’s Uses & Gratifications theory, three in particular would be:

Personal identity: Readers enjoy having their quirky, creative lifestyle and feminist viewpoint endorsed and reflected by the magazine.

Personal relationships: Oh Comely is presented in a particularly personal way. It is the creation of three university friends, the magazine offers background on the contributors and readers are encouraged to ‘get to know’ the editorial team.

Surveillance: Oh Comely deliberately looks to inform its readers about niche stories, events and people.

Oh Comely - Audience blog tasks

Read the Oh Comely website page on advertising and audience to get a good idea of the demographics and psychographics for the Oh Comely target audience then answer the following questions:

1) How does Oh Comely introduce itself?

Goodness Comely is a ground-breaking blend of words and pictures, gorgeously displayed and much adored by its perusers. It gives an option to the 'heap it-high-sell-it-modest' tasteful of standard magazines for young ladies, and this is the reason it has cut an unwavering specialty of fans. It is a much needed refresher for an inventive group of spectators edgy to discover something that addresses them legitimately in an available, insightful and intriguing voice 

2) How do the print circulation/readership statistics for Oh Comely compare to Men's Health?

the print dissemination statics are lower then MH. 

3) How is Oh Comely distributed to the audience? 

through customary autonomous stores

4) What do you think the target audience demographics for Oh Comely might be? Some details are provided by the magazine (e.g. average age 27) but make an educated guess on further demographic details.

their intended interest group is the ages between 25-35 who are high society as it is a specialty magazine.the statistic would be ABC1 who are instructed. 

5) What psychographic groups might be attracted to Oh Comely?

I think adventurers or reformers since they need to roll out an improvement for females a this magazine is for female strengthening. 

6) What social class classification would you expect most Oh Comely readers to be? Why?

who are high society as it is a specialty magazine,also they are taught 

7) What level of education would you expect for most Oh Comely readers? Why?

I would think they ave a college degree as this magazine is a specialty magazine for privileged individuals with a medium to high discretionary cashflow 

8) What audience pleasures are offered by Oh Comely?

it is straightforward yet looks extravagant through the format of the magazine and the dialects utilized. 

9) It has been suggested Oh Comely is a “magazine about people, their quirks and creativity rather than money and what it can buy”. How does the design and advertising content of Oh Comely support this view?

individual personality: relate capable 

observation: data 

redirection: escape 

individual relationship: become acquainted with editors

10) Why do you think Oh Comely has been able to build a loyal audience of subscribers in the eight years since it launched? Think about audience demand, rival magazines and the overall media landscape in the digital age.

I think they are as their magazine is not quite the same as the others and its not for cash so along these lines females may be bound to be bought in for what it's worth for a decent aim