Online Women’s Magazines: Differences in Perceptions between Print and Online Magazines among Female Readers

Popular women’s magazines have gone online and are gaining increased readership because of their interactive content, videos, and discussion forums. This study examines women’s perceptions and behaviors toward online women’s magazines based on an online survey of 257 female magazine readers. We found that, compared with their print counterparts, online magazines were perceived to be easier to read, skip ads, order products, search for, save and share information and comment on articles. Moreover, most female readers are positive toward the technological merits of online women’s magazines. Younger, less-educated, and less affluent readers showed a more positive attitude toward online women’s magazines than older, more educated, and more affluent readers did. However, female readers’ involvement with and engagement in the interactive features of online magazines were found to be low. Implications and suggestions for future research were discussed.