Difference between People Magazine and Us Weekly
Magazines are produced, bought and read every day and every night. Some are full of informative articles while others are about gossip or opinions. Two of the more famous celebrity magazines are Us Weekly and People Magazine. There’s a slight difference between the two and that being that Us Weekly is a pure celebrity gossip magazine while People Magazine is what they consider a 50/50 magazine of human-interest stories as well as celebrity stories. These magazines harbor some of the craziest and ridiculous gossip stores known to man about celebrities. They appeal to the more impressionable among us or individuals with a lot of time on their hands.
Starting Out
People Magazine's first issue came out in 1974, three years sooner then Us Weekly which came out in 1977. The company behind People Magazine is Time Inc. (Time Warner) and the editor is Larry Hackett. Us Weekly’s Editor in Chief is Michael Steele and it's company is Wenner Media LLC. Both magazines have stories on celebrities and both host beauty stories as well as photographs and gossip. While People Magazine tries to combine a mixture of content, Us Weekly has more of a gossip focus. However, People Magazine once paid $75,000 for photos of Jennifer Lopez, thus raising the photos bar. This proved to be a challenge for Us Weekly when it comes to photos, making it very expensive and competitive; however the move was very smart and strategic to People Magazine’s credit.
The Web
As everything else in this world, both of these magazines have spiraled off onto the World Wide Web. Both companies have made websites into a site readers can get online and read the top stories or check out the photos while on the go. People Magazine drew 39.6 million page views in February 2007 within one day of the Golden Globes. That record was shattered merely a month later on the day that the Oscars was on, hitting 51.7 million page views in 24 hours. Us Weekly finally launched their website in 2006. In February 2010, UsMagazine.com had over 140,000 back links.
Awards and Recognition
In 2005, Advertising Age named People Magazine, "Magazine of the Year." As of the year 2006, People Magazine had revenues expecting to beat $1.5 billion and had a circulation of 3.75 million! In October 2006, People Magazine walked away as #3 on "Adweeks" Brand Blazers and #6 on Advertising Age's "A-list." Us Weekly made Adweeks "Hot List: Top 10 Magazines" for four consecutive years (2004-2007.) They were also ranked #3 in 2005 and #1 in 2004 of Advertising Age A-List. Advertising Age's also crowned them "Magazine of the Year" in 2004.
Summary
- People magazine set the bar for high priced photographs of celebrities thanks to their $75,000 buy of a photo of Jennifer Lopez reading a Us Weekly magazine.
- People Magazine launched their magazine three years earlier then Us Weekly but that hasn't stopped Us Weekly from attempting to be number one.
- Us Weekly has more celebrity gossip content and beauty articles where as People Magazine has a celebrity gossip section, beauty section and human-interest pieces.
- Both magazines have launched their website which are shown truly successful, especially on days of awards, hitting millions of hits per day.
