Audience
The median audience for Wired sits at about 40 years old for both men and women (Pocket Piece 2016). According to their media kit, the majority of their audience (41%) is made up of 18-34 year olds. Also, over half of the readership has graduated college and 75% of their audience is employed. This seems as though the readership is split down the middle in many aspects. While nearly 40% of the audience is 18-34, there is another 49% that’s 35 or older. In the same respect, with the 52% that have graduated college, there is also 48% that are either still in college or do not attend. An advertisement that highlights the type of audience that frequents the magazine is the Bulova ad displaying a high end watch. Seems to lean towards targeting the older population.
The one most dominant statistic is what many would expect. The male population of the audience is comprised of over 70%. Also, the males treat the magazine better by spreading the wealth more than the females. Males create 2 readers per copy while females keep their issue for themselves, only creating 1.03 readers per copy. In total, this adds up to about 800,000 copies in circulation.
Editorial Philosophy
Part of Wired’s missions statement states that they are the place where “tomorrow is realized”. They proclaim themselves to be the “essential source of information” in a society that is dominated by technology so much that non-technological things are even adapting to them. The current issue that is on the shelves is all about “styled technology”. Coats with convenient earphone holders to prevent tangling is one example of how they are helping maximize and normalize the endless use of technology. While there are other tech magazines, Wired is the only magazine helping merge life and technology into one. PC Mag does reviews on just about anything electronic, but that’s where it stops. They don’t help you decide whether it’s the best product for children or which car it works best in. It just tells you how good it performs on a 10 points scale.
Editorial Formula
For this special ‘style guide’ edition there is a strong sense of logic and order. They break the issue down into categories of different type of people and list different products that can enhance their lifestyle. “The Great Entertainer” features items like universal remotes, stylish carafes, and oyster/shellfish folding knives. “The Escape Artist” is for people who like to venture out and travel. Items like a hiking-proof smart watch, a gas stove that folds into a messenger bag, and traveling bags for pets. The issue goes on with more styles of life and items that could help live such a way.
Organization
Condé Nast is the owner of the Wired Magazine. They own many other popular magazines, including: Allure, Glamour, Golf Digest, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Vogue. While they are a magazine owning company, they extend their media to websites and social media as well. Wired carries 110 total staff members. 41 editorial members, 18 creative members, 5 people in the operations department, 11 taking on the marketing task, 25 members on the revenue front, two brand lab members, and a seven team technology taskforce.
Advertising/Editorial Ratio
The advertising/editorial ratio is 3:43. This special edition seems to lack the number of advertisments to to the nature of listing products as an advertisement in itself. Of 129 pages there are only 9 official advertisements found.
Editorial
This magazine issue speaks to all walks of life. From the person who likes to host events at their home, to the person who likes to flee from home as often as possible. They find gadgets and trinkets for anyone’s advantage. They list all these gadgets that are here to help all type of people make their way of life a little easier. Things like portable wood-fire pizza ovens for the at home chef, 360 degree cameras for the creative type of people, and a paper-thin cantine for the competitors of the world all show that Wired is committed to their mission of finding ways to utilize the technology that is constantly changing society.
Design
The design definitely fits with the audience. This issue comes with a matted type of cover with a full assortment of colors as you flip through, which screams style and design. The “lists” are not just columns of words, numbers, and descriptions, rather pictures strategically placed all over the page with a reference number to find its description somewhere else.
Jarvis Royall 