Music magazine Case StudyRolling Stone

By Madison Alger

History• Founded on November 9th 1967 in

San Francisco by Jann Wenner• Part of the Wenner Media LLC• Based in New York• Published bi-weekly

Development• In the 1990s it changed to appeal to a younger

readership.• Focused on television shows, film actors,

popular music etc.• Recently it has resumed its original themes of

in depth political stories and more recently has added financial and banking issues/news.

• Opened its own restaurant in 2011 with its own night club but this later closed in February 2013.

• Has own website and MySpace, Facebook and Twitter pages.

Typical Reader Profile• Median age is 35• 60% male and 40% female• 73% are employed, 25% of which are in

professional or managerial posts• 50% are single and 35% are married. 46% have

children living in their current household• 56% own their own home, worth on average

$206,000• Around 8.5 readers per copy

Ethnicity: %

White 73

Black 14

Asian 1

Other 12

Funding• Each issue costs $4.99• A years subscription costs $39.96• Currently there are over 12 million subscribers• Each year that equals $39,960,000 in sales from subscriptions

alone• Another 75,000 issues are sold at newsstands• That’s another $374,000 a year• Total sales per year is roughly $40 million• For a full page colour advert the magazine charges over

$200,000 and a half page is around $120,000

Advertisers• Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Bid Light, Axe, Pringles, Camel

Cigarettes, HP Sauce, Snickers.• All of these appeal to its target demographic of 18-35 middle

class male, they are cheap and easy to obtain.

House Style• Aimed at a young, mainstream audience• Largely covers popular culture, focusing on actors, television

and popular music. • The magazine certainly relates to its audience, that much is

clear by its popularity. They cover the stories its audience wants to read in a clear and mature manner.