National Geographic is very unique indeed.
The National Geographic is aimed at not only males (who are the majority of their readers) but females too. Who are around the age of 40 years old, and have a median household income of about $70,000. And according to their media kit, only about 40% of them graduated from college. There are a lot of car and medicine advertisements, which usually is geared towards a middle-aged audience. Cars more towards men however, there is also a Twinning’s tea advertisement, which I think, is more of a feminine advertisement, although, anyone at any age drinks tea.
The National Geographic’s specific focus is on geography, natural science, archaeology and the “promotion of environmental and historical conservation”. The National Geographic’s editorial philosophy is “inspiring people to care about the planet”.
The magazine’s approach to this content is with a lot of photos and articles from people living or traveling through an area or from experts in a certain field on that topic. It is different from other magazines such as the Smithsonian because it is more like a book and National Geographic is better known for their photography. Also the National Geographic does not really have content that is considered popular culture like most other magazines.
A lot of the content in National Geographic are features told through more photographs than words about history, the environment, archaeology or science. Regular features are photography, environment, and travel. The order of the content is that the story and supporting photographs for the cover photo is always somewhere in the middle of the issue and majority of the advertisements happen before page 50, so that the major features and stories are not interrupted.
21st Century Fox owns the magazine. According to their LinkedIn page, the National Geographic has anywhere between 2,000-5,000 employees- exact magazine staff is not published. According to the News Corp website, Murdoch also owns SmartSource magazine, which is published in the U.S. and circulated through the U.S. Besides magazines, Murdoch owns literally hundreads of cable channels, newspapers, production companies, etc., through 21st Century Fox and News Corp.
The latest issue of National Geographic has 138 pages exactly. 18 of those pages were advertisements. So, the advertising/editorial ratio is: 3:23.
National Geographic takes a lot of pride in bringing its philosophy to life. For example, in its mission statement the magazine empowers people “to navigate the world while uncovering the wonders of our time.” It is clear that they take this very seriously in every issue. In the latest issue, the focus is on London’s underground and the changing roles for Saudi women. For the London story, the writers and photographers not only describe and show artifacts that have been found underground in the city but also where underground, a map of around the time most of these artifacts came to exist in London and their significance. This article shows people a side of a city they’ve never seen before while uncovering a natural wonder of our time.
The story on the Saudi women, which is amazing, shows the roles they use to play and the roles they have now in Saudi Arabia. This article especially, empowers people all across the world, who have never even been near Saudi Arabia to learn more about their country and culture.
National geographic’s design philosophy states they boast that “each issue captivates millions of curious readers with award-winning photography”. The magazine matches the philosophy by highlighting the incredible photography and its importance for each story. This also matches their audience who tends to be more males around the age of 50. But anyone really likes nice pictures, especially when you’re talking about travel, history and archaeology
Kayla Baines 