This article explores the role of circulation, readership and reader demographics in the determination of advertising rates in South African consumer magazines. The study uses panel data collected between 2000 and 2003 to quantify the relationships by assigning implicit prices to various magazine characteristics. Furthermore, a synopsis of the structure of the magazine industry in South Africa is developed using cluster-analytic techniques. The analysis lends some statistical credence to some widely held beliefs in the publishing industry; namely that advertisers value the young, the educated and the affluent as audiences. The role of race and gender in the determination of magazine advertising rates is also explored.
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