I see magazines at the grocery store and I’m wondering how they’re surviving these days, when even online journalism is struggling.
I’m 30M, I think the last one I had a subscription to was Game Informer, which I let lapse in 2014 or so. Well and I’m still subscribed to my college’s quarterly magazine but I rarely read it.
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Comic book readers are still buying print. My son is under 35 and makes a weekly stop at the comic book shop.
No. It’s not really a thing and if people do subscribe to any periodicals it’s online. People/US Weekly etc are for older people in the checkout line. My mom doesn’t do it anymore but as late as 2020 she was definitely picking up People magazine from time to time at the grocery store.
I read my parents’ magazines, does that count?
Highlights. Ranger Rick. Boy’s Life.
I am a subscriber still of National Geographic magazine. Granted I turn 35 next month lol, but I’ve been a subscriber for years.
I wonder the same thing. There are dozens of magazines on the rack at Barnes and Noble near me and how? I get one quarterly magazine and I’m in my 40s
I’m 30 in July and still subscribe to non appetite and will pick up hard copies of comic books when I’m in the mood to read one. That’s what I consider one of my hardest old man takes. If I’m gonna read something. Like a book or magazine. It needs to be hard copy. But all my music and movies and such are digital
35F and I subscribe to a few—High Country News, Mountain Gazette, Orion, various geoscience publications.
I have two magazine subscriptions for very niche interests, but no one else I know my age does it
Not only do I know no one under 35 who still reads print books/magazines I don’t even know anyone over 35 who reads print. Everyone I know went digital well over a decade ago.
I’m 38, so a little over your listed range, but I subscribe to two magazines. I like them for recipe ideas and to flip through when I take a bath. Plus if somebody is visiting it’s something they can browse too.
I don’t. It’s wild because my dad used to get 5+ mags a month and even he has cut them out completely. I really miss those days but find that whenever I do buy a print magazine, it’s a struggle to actually pick it up and read it. Part of that is having kids who don’t allow me much uninterrupted time to do much of anything, I can basically just read/comment on a Reddit post and that fills my entertainment cup!
My husband and I somehow get like 4 magazines we never subscribed to and I save them and give them to my dentist.
I’m 33 and have a subscription to the new yorker.
Sometimes if I know I’m going to be like…traveling or at the beach/pool, I pick up some magazines.
But actually subscribe? No.
My daughter gets highlights
I like Southern Living and Midwest Living for recipes
My child loves getting free Lego Magazine…to see what’s new. albeit it’s mostly a sales catalog.
I’m 34 and have had an Imbibe subscription for a few years. It’s mostly ads but sometimes has interesting articles.
all the magazines I see at the grocery store are targeted at old people
If it wasn’t for Spin relaunching as a quarterly print magazine, I wouldn’t have bought any in years.
30 and I buy car magazines all the time. I don’t like reading them on my phone.
Highlights, Nat Geo
My 17 year old daughter likes to occasionally buy Rolling Stone and Sports Illustrated if she likes who is on the cover. However, I think a lot of that is just collecting them and I’m not sure if she sits there and reads it cover to cover.
I don’t know of any one of any age that still reads magazines but I have never been privy to my friends’ magazine sub info.
Skaters are still buying Thrasher
No but someone pulled out an actual newspaper on the train yesterday and I was shook
My sister is 34 and still subscribed to magazines like National Geographic
We have a highlights subscription for my kid— I’d highly recommend that. I can see when we move on from that possibly getting a teen-oriented magazine subscription, basically to keep the casual reading from being replaced by scrolling. I’m over 30 & very rarely buy a magazine anymore (it’s been about 7 years since I last had a subscription). Last time I picked up a magazine, there was very little actual content. Very disappointing.
Nope
I don’t know anyone under age 55 who still reads print magazines.
I think the data is going to be heavily skewed by older people buying magazine subscriptions for their grandkids and so on.
My nieces have always had one version or another of National Geographic for instance.
My kids read Scout Life, formerly Boys Life magazine.
If Mental Floss were still in print, I’d still be a subscriber. RIP
I read them periodically because I get free ones from my job and I still buy cross stitching ones at Barnes and Noble for my grandma. But a subscription? No
I’m well over 35, and I get free magazine subscriptions on my kindle. The only print magazine I’ve bought in years is Games, and not even that often. But people still read paper books, I’m sure they still read magazines, especially ones that are photo-heavy: Nat Geo, fashion & celeb, food & recipe stuff. Magazines I’m guessing have never been on your radar whatsoever.
If I had more disposable income I’d probably subscribe to National Geographic
My 12 year old daughter has multiple subscriptions, plus she reads my Mother Jones and National Geographic (and the newspaper every day.)
Guns and Ammo, Handguns, Cigar Aficionado, the Safari Club newsletter and magazine, and now that Field and Stream is back in print I have a subscription again. I’m 22 with the literary habits of a 76-year old.
Yes. My kids love magazines. Highlights, the week junior, cricket
No.
I (30f) absolutely love print magazines! I get Bon Appetit monthly, but also get many others from the library. I even ask for magazine subscriptions for Christmas & my birthday.
I don’t know anyone who does. I recently was asked to make a collage and I was like “with what” because I literally don’t even have old ones laying around, it’s been over a decade since I had magazines
Only at a doctor’s appointment or dentist
Not enough! I am always looking for cast offs to let the kids where I work cut them up and it’s getting really hard to find donations. They cost upwards of $12 each now, so I’m not feeling hopeful for the future, either.
Hell I’m almost 60 and dont know anyone that still reads them.
No and I’m not under 35, I’m 59, I don’t subscribe to any and have not for more than 10 years probably. A few times I can get nostalgic and will buy one (overpriced and half the size it used to be) and am ALWAYS disappointed. I don’t know how they are making it either.
I read Food and Wine magazines. That’s it though. I keep the recipes.
I don’t know anyone under 50 with paper magazines.
Print is better for your eyes.
I’m 40 and I have switched over almost completely to digital. I buy manga and graphic novels sometimes but everything else, tablet.
I have 3 but I am in my 40’s
Kids (at the library), younger adults (also at the library).
National Geographic is still pretty popular, & Highlights & Rick Jr.
For younger adults (& us 35+) my library has patrons reading local Baltimore magazines, Fortean Times, various design, fashion, & business mags, & other topics too.
I don’t know anyone over 35 that still reads print magazines.
My daughters have subscriptions to Highlights and Girls Life magazine.
I have a subscription to Car and Driver, I haven’t opened one in probably two years and I keep forgetting to cancel it. I’m actually setting a reminder to do that now… thanks.
But at the same time, I’ve been meaning to subscribe to Road and Track. High quality writing, photography, etc. I’ve bought a few of those loose on news stands.
31 for reference.
28 here, I just bought two copies of Fur, Fish & Game and I have a large pile of Game Informer issues under my bed.
We get quite a few. My husband find offers on Mags.com or Slick Deals for like $5/year, so he’ll subscribe to random things just to see what they’re like.
We’ve gotten Midwest Living, Michigan Living, Flower, Garden & Gun (!), and a few others. We live in California, so it’s interesting to see how the rest of the country lives.
Magazines stay alive thanks to advertising dollars, not so much subscriptions. Advertisers want to see high subscription numbers, so that’s why you can get them so cheaply now. The publishers just need the numbers.
My daughter and son both read The New Yorker.
I publish a magazine. About 75% of my subscribers choose the print edition over digital.
I get The Week Junior and The Atlantic in print so my kids can read them. (I read The Atlantic in the app.)
Not your target age, but I’m 45 and prefer printed material.
I still subscribe to printed magazines (like Grit) and bimonthly newspapers (outdoor sports and agricultural).
Online articles just grate my nerves.
I do! I started picking them up at grocery stores. I want to consume more non digital media, I also want future magazines to look back at in the future. There’s also research showing a possible correlation between consuming local print media and voting. I love sitting down and reading articles and taking note of the visual choices made by the editors.
Under 35? I can’t think of anyone.
I subscribe to The Advocate / Out for the purpose of giving those magazines to the LGBTQ+ community center where I’ve been volunteering for the last 18 months.
Boomer queers like me notice the magazines and occasionally read them. ONE guy who’s 32 took one home because he liked someone being featured in the mag. (Annoying, the mag was meant for everyone, but probably nobody else would have read it anyway.)
I honestly believe that rack magazines are only in stores now to remind us that those magazines exist at all.
Trust me, once they have your email address, they will bombard you with requests to get a DIGITAL subscription instead, because they all know the days of print magazines will be ending eventually.
I was about to say “me!” But then remembered I’m nowhere near 35 anymore. When did I get old?
They survive by being stupidly expensive. As are paper newspapers. I bought two mid-week papers to show my English class (one of their options on a novel-end assignment was to create a newspaper front page—and none of the kids had ever seen one). $14 for two midweek issues!
Myself
I get the Sunday paper every week. Though I usually only read the comic pages.
I can’t think of anyone I talk to who’s under 35 and using printed media.
Yes, I work at a juvenile jail & we have several magazine subscriptions for the library available for the inmates to read.
I have a subscription to Reason magazine and Arizona Highways.
I’m 32 and I do! I have a few I’ve kept over the years, but the library has a much better variety. I also order travel magazines for states I enjoy visiting. Being able to physically flip through the pages and enjoy magazines is so much better than digital versions. Physical media in general is superior to digital as well… It’s wholly yours then, and cannot be removed/taken away for silly reasons.
I’m 24 and I still read print magazines. They’re not nearly as common as they were but they’re still around.
I almost bought a magazine today, but didn’t.
I do, and I still read physical books (I hate digital readers)
I’m 54 and never really did read magazines, well maybe a couple of tiger beats lol
I’m 56 and only get a Wired subscription on paper because it was included with the online access.
I like to buy a few when I go on vacation. It’s fun to browse magazines in an airport shop and get a few. They’re lightweight, take up little space, and I don’t have to worry about charging them or damaging them cause they’re just magazines.
I haven’t had an actual subscription in over a decade, though. I kind of miss the fun of getting something in the mail that wasn’t just a bill or coupon junk.
I miss Maxim
I’m 36, and I have two subscriptions I still get in print. I get them in print specifically to get some non-screen time where I can actually read something on paper. They both have digital editions so I don’t have shelves full of back issues if I want to re-read something. Best of both worlds.
Me. I’ve always loved magazines and analog media. Cars, food, fashion, antiques, home and garden…
I like way they’re laid out and all the beautiful pictures inside. After I’m done reading, I might cut some pictures out and make a collage. Sometimes not, though. The magazine is already art.
Do professional journals count? If so, yes, pretty much every day.
Granted, the online versions tend to be better in most ways (clearer figures, linked annotations, online-only articles, etc.), but dang the complicated net of subscription services and logins make streaming platforms look simple. Plus, sometimes I want to take 10 min away from staring at a screen for 6-8+ hours per day.
Me. At the library.
I love art magazines! Generally not the type of thing you’ll find at a grocery store checkout but magazines like Hi Fructose, Lynx, Suture and Synchron are some of the magazines I buy and keep forever
My 10 year old daughter loves them. They are mostly the current “pop” and “teen”’type magazines but she also likes some gaming ones too. I’d say she has at least 4 different ones she loves and 3 she sometimes wants depending on the articles.
I do
I’m 26M and my partner is also 26M, we get birds and blooms magazine and read it pretty regularly. That’s it though.
I’m 30 and I occasionally buy one. Sometimes I even read it.
Me! I love magazines!
My son reads the Lego Magazines when they come each month in the mail. We used to get Ranger Rick too.
Also your cut off should really be more like 25 as magazine subscriptions were still common in the 00’s.
I’m 34 so just under that cutoff and I do still like magazines. The only one I sub to right now is Vogue, I use it for art inspiration mostly.
I am 30F and i get people magazine in the mail every week (it’s way cheaper when you subscribe than the $6 price you see it at stores—i pay $1.30 per issue). I also read my college alumni magazine.
I buy a few nfl draft magazines every year
I had a print subscription of the Wall Street Journal until I was about 30.
I subscribe to and read the print version The New Yorker. I like an excuse to put down my phone.
It’s pretty niche, but I have a subscription to Living Buddhism. But I highly doubt anyone outside not just my school of Buddhism but my specific lay organization I belong to would have that one.
I gift Highlights to kids. I’m older than 35 but subscribed to print magazines this year to get off social media
Yeah I do… I… Wait, what? No! NOOOOOO!
DRAGGED OUT OF THE THREAD FOR BEING OVER 35
Under 35 and subscribe to The Atlantic and Foreign Affairs. The latter is more of an international relations journal but for your question, I think it counts.
At my library, the Scooby-Doo comics circulate like crazy!
At comics shops, lots of younger men and women read monthly comics.
I dont think i have subscribed to a magazine in several years maybe 10-15 but i might buy the occasional one that looks interesting at the grocery store
I don’t know anyone over 35 that still reads print magazines
I’ll grab one before a flight. I just prefer to leaf idly through a magazine rather than mess with the inflight entertainment system. That’s the only time, though. Oh, wait. A Hollywood Reporter comes to the apartment for some reason. I think it was a freebee for the prior tenant.
I do.
Nobody I know does
Under 18, yes. Age 20+. no. And under 18 – that’s the parent’s paying.
I don’t know anyone at any age reading magazines.
My daughter has a print subscription to the New Yorker. She is 21
I’m 32 and I get Vogue, Architectural Digest, and Condé Nast Traveler
32 – Entertainment Weekly, Garden & Gun, Newsweek, and the occasional MAD – I’ll also pick up a regular news paper every once in a while.
I’m older. I used to love reading Rolling Stone Magazine and Time Magazine back in the day, but I’ve long since let my subscriptions lapse. Other great magazines were Entertainment Weekly and Vanity Fair.
There’s so much free content online now paying for a magazine really isn’t necessary. I do pay for digital subscriptions of newspapers like the New York Times and WSJ, but I make sure to get big discounts.