Look at certain trends and think WHY they could be happening (and blog your theories)
Look at what genre of mags are selling more than than others and why this could be.
What factors (socio-economic, for example) could impact on revenue (which equals sales and money generated from advertising)
Also investigate niche magazines. Pros and cons. Broadcast V narrowcast.
Look at how much more dedicated fans become with each sub-genre but conpare and contrast that to the effect on potential sales.
Think about pros and cons of niche magaazines.
Deconstruct a niche mag cover and link it to its readership. Do purely niche magazines NEED to generate / find new readers?
Circulation, especially online circ, is usually a choice between chasing readers or establishing readers.
Does a publication try to chase as many readers as possible by appealing to as many people within that niche as possible, or does it keep and build on an established fan base.
For example, if you were producing a pop magazine would you chase readers by having a front cover which featured new and upcoming bands, or go for the more established route and have Lady GaGa on the cover, week after week, knowing that this would guarantee sales, but maybe - eventually - alienate a percentage of the readership?
Also, with niche mags, think about reader loyalty. A niche magazine can become a mouthpiece for a genre. If Metal Foces magazine backed a new up-and-coming band in the metal genre, the chances are that band, with the combined hype of the recod label's publicity machine, combined with niche mag approval, the group WILL become huge.
Obviously sales will be smaller, the more niche the product is, but don't forget revenue from advertising too, which is how all publications make their real money.
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