Future opportunities for the magazine publishing industry

• Main Authors: Chan, Alinna Lai Kuen, Lee, Siang Hoon, Phua, Pamela Puay Shan
• Other Authors: Shailendia Palvia
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/62953
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Our project, 'Future Opportunities for the Magazine Publishing Industry' is designed and executed with two objectives in mind. The first objective is to examine and analyse the current status of the magazine publishing industry in Singapore. Second objective is to identify opportunities for new magazine and study their feasibility. Lastly, we would like to apply skills and knowledge acquired in NTU. The motivating forces for setting these objectives are many. First of all, we think that this industry is an unusual area for detailed analysis. According to some local publishers, this industry has been neglected. People have taken the magazine industry for granted. Nobody has attempted to see beyond the glamorous facade of the industry and report what is behind the scene Therefore, it is definitely challenging to examine the current status of the magazine. Secondly, we find that though there are many magazines in the market, there is still room for improvement. From our point of view, the magazines available are not fully satisfying the diverse needs of the readers, new kinds of magazine are definitely needed. In addition, as the nation of Singapore moves forward rapidly to an advanced nation status by the year 2000, as the literacy rate of Singapore population goes up significantly each year, as the hunger for knowledge, entertainment and information goes up substantially, it is a worthwhile task to assess future opportunities for the magazine publishing industry. Another driving force is our desire for enrichment. We will like to find out how the magazine publishing industry works, what functions and tasks in it and the nature of these functions. At the same time, the chance to put our learning into practice is equally exhilarating. It will enable us to improve our interpersonal skill, interviewing skill and most important of all, we can get exposure to the business world and build up our network and contacts. All in all, we want to gain an insight into the magazine publishing industry and to obtain practical experience from the study. The methodology employed for this project was as follows : Firstly, we started the project with the background research of the industry. This involved secondary data collection from : NUS library for press clippings regarding this industry; the Singapore National Library for journals; directories of publishers and advertising agencies; and NTU library for other relevant Population Census, statistics, journals, articles and books. Secondly, assured with this knowledge from these sources, review of magazines available at newsstands and bookstores, and a study of Singapore's evolving demographics, we identified a few opportunities for new magazines. Thirdly, we interviewed professionals from the industry to assess the attractiveness and feasibility of our proposed new magazines. Our interviewees included publishers, advertising agents, distributors, bookstore managers and marketing managers of publishing firms. The interviews enabled us to identify two highly viable options : a magazine for the retiring and retired population and a magazine oriented to Chinese women. Fourthly, to ascertain the demand for our proposed magazines, we administered a questionnaire survey to the retiring and retired population and Chinese female population. We also consulted advertisers, distributors and bookstore managers regarding the salability of the proposed magazines. The response to our proposals was very positive. Finally, we looked into the cost analyses for the production of the proposed magazines to determine their profitability.