Attitude: Industry and Audience

Publishing info:
- Published by Stream Publishing Ltd
- It seems to publish a range of titles that are mostly for travel companies (free handouts that people can read), however they also publish another gay magazine, called 'Winq', which is luxurious.
- They acquired 'Attitude Magazine' in order to eliminate competition, an example of horizontal integration
- 'winq' is a Dutch magazine which is an example of internationalisation where corporations can sell more copies of magazines which they have already produced
- They are an independent publisher
- The new website was only set up in 2014

1/3 of magazine revenue comes from advertising, which is essential to keeping the cover price of magazines down. This is also reflected in the amount of advertisements on the Attitude website.

Print circulation for 'Attitude' magazine sits at around 50,000, whereas the online circulation sits at 12,207. However, the amount of online users comes to 1.8 million, with 3.6 million page views and 550,000 Facebook likes. They also have a newsletter, which has 42,000 subscribers. For example, an inside front cover advert for Attitude magazine costs £9,000. In comparison, Vogue's inside front cover advert costs £157,390.

Audience:

• described as 'affluent', and 'gay male professionals'
• they are generally quite young in their 20s or 30s
• the magazine specialises with 'premium fashion, grooming and luxury goods products'
• Attitude readers are 'early adopters' of new technology as opposed to buying second-hand goods that are out of fashion
• they are 'highly loyal to brands that advertise and speak to them through gay press' which links to the magazine ideology of being inclusive 
• uses the stereotype of gay men being vain and interested in their appearance, saying their audience is 'very style conscious and take great pride in their appearance'

The audience here is being assumed using multiple stereotypes and the ideology that gay men have much more disposable/expendable income. This can also be known colloquially as 'the Pink Pound', as many gay people spend more money due to not having to pay for things such as families and young children. 

Advertisers for 'Attitude' would be reasonably high end, and their products would be known for their quality and their cultural capital. They would also include adverts for things such as holidays to exotic countries which many people would not be able to afford due to things like children.

Brand Identity - the ideology of an institution

Attitude's website is an example of synergy between print and online media. The use of digital convergence here means that people can conveniently access the content of the magazine wherever they want, without having the magazine at hand. 

The website's ideology however differs from the magazine, as it is much more simplistic. It is much less professional than the magazine which is aimed at a middle-class audience, however the thumbnails and articles are a lot more working-class which are more aspirational. There is a lot of random clickbait and it seems a lot more basic, with the articles being short and easy to read. The simplicity and user-friendly content is easy to navigate, with a less-is-more approach, and the modernity of the sans-serif font seems less high-class than others. This is due to the fact that the magazine wants to target a secondary audience which the magazine would otherwise not attract. 

DAVID GAUNTLET - theories around Identity (pick and mix)

- Within Attitude, gay men use this theory through the 'Style' section of the website
- An example of this is their "This Week's Hottest Clothes and Accessories" article
- They would look at this section of the website to form how they want to look, and by having such a high focus on fashion (especially high-end products) they are selling a very expensive lifestyle
- A lot of the clothes they have chosen are bright, with lots of bold patterns and colours, however there is something for everyone with a mixture of more plain products as well
- In the opinions section they discuss 'gay icons', which display that gay people should form their identity due to certain celebrities
- 'Gay icons' are named such as they are people who are bold, confident, and comfortable in their own skin, which gay people may aspire to

Using Digital Technology to Maximise Audience Consumption?

The use of various social media pages means that they can target specific audiences and also reach further audiences. For example, Facebook enables them to share articles in a much simpler way than other platforms, and uses multimodality to a much higher degree, as well as being able to create a community in a much easier way. As well as this, Twitter is a platform which has much more shocking content on it and is much less PG than other sites, meaning they can share much more explicit content. Finally, Instagram is purely for photo sharing and therefore it creates visual engagement and attracts them by uploading eye-catching images, which stand out from the rest of the feed. There is also an Attitude app, and they have a digital subscription which people can pay for and be sent the magazine without having to buy it in a store - this could be to reach people who aren't as confident in showing their personality. 

However, looking at the content of Attitude's online media they don't really allow or incorporate audience interaction - photos made and sent in by fans, proof that people have been inspired by articles etc. What this displays is that the magazine is purely provided by the producers of the magazine itself, which disproves CLAY SHIRKY'S End of Audience theory.