Bridal Magazines are the Hottest in the Industry!

Wow! Bridal Magazines are officially the 'fastest growing magazine category' in the industry! This according to Oxbridge Communications, publisher of the National Directory of Magazines. Some highlights from an interview from Media Life Magazine:

"What's hot in magazines: Bridal titles"

They're now the fastest-growing magazine category

One might think of bridal magazines as a staid category of magazines, and very niche, led by the big national titles Bride's and Modern Bride, but in fact the bridal category is seeing explosive growth, indeed the fastest growth of any category. The number of titles has nearly doubled in the past five years. And this at a time when many of the major magazine categories are seeing titles closing. Why the explosion in new titles? Good question.

How many bridal magazines are there?

There were 135 bridal magazines in 2007, up from 69 in 2002. [a 96% increase!!!!!]

Why is this category of titles so hot right now?

The growth in bridal magazines goes hand-in-hand with the nesting trend, as seen in the growth of home and interior design magazines. There also seems to be a fascination with celebrities, their marriages and un-marriages, and their babies.

How many of these bridal titles are local and regional? Is localization an important trend?

Yes, many of these bridal titles are regional. For example, there is Bride's Boston, Island Weddings, Nantucket Weddings and Hawaii Bride and Groom. Localization is the most important trend.

What are some of the key differences between the major titles in the bridal category?

They are becoming increasingly specialized, targeting ethnic groups, celebrity weddings and even men, as mentioned earlier.

To what do you attribute the growth among bridal titles?

Trends come and go, but people are always going to get married. And because of the high divorce rate there are even more marriages at all ages.

See the entire interview here.

You can also view an interesting 3-minute video clip from today's ADVERTISING AGE on the same topic - proving that this is big market news indeed!

Weddings continue to go from strength to strength and are the darlings of the media. The challenge for any marketer is, in a world of increasingly tighter budgets, how to make the dollars stretch further and mazimize their effectiveness. This does not even take into account the new wedding-related websites that pop up on what seems to be a daily basis! All the more reason for a dedicated, targeted approach and to knowing who the bride is that YOU want to attract. More on this hot topic in the near future!