2006 Reader Survey

Some very interesting and, perhaps, surprising observations have come out of our 2006 survey.

The largest proportion of our readers (31%) is in the 45-54 age group; a high earning and high spending age group. The next highest proportion (28%) is in the 65 plus age group. But the majority of MI readers (55%) are below 55. They work mainly in the professions, including teachers, civil servants and ex-army.

Although between 7% and 25% of our readers read other military hobby magazines, a far larger 28% to 33% read more general history magazines such as History Today and the BBC History Magazine. This means the characterisation of our readers as “military anoraks” is far from true. They are a broader and more varied readership with a strong interest in general history. This is an argument for re-positioning MI next to more general history magazines in shops, rather than buried among the hobby magazines. Our new look should encourage this identity. It also reveals how military history has become more popular among a more general audience.

Our readers are enormously enthusiastic buyers of books, with 80% saying they frequently buy military books. Great news for publishers.

They are also very interested in watching military documentaries on TV, with 78% saying they do so frequently. The most popular TV channels for military history are BBC2 (57%), the History Channel (54%) and Ch4 (43%).

94% of our readers like visiting military museums and heritage sites.
84% of our readers like buying DVDs and videos on military subjects.
58% like buying military models and figurines; 49% like buying antique militaria.
39% like playing military computer games.
35% would be very interested in seeing an MI website.

Editorially, 73% of our readers are happy with the current mixture of periods and topics. World War Two remains by far the most popular subject—with 76% saying this is their favourite area of interest. This is good news for publishers who like to submit mainly World War Two extracts. Each month, we meet this interest by running at least 2 and usually 3 World War Two features. The next most popular periods are World War One (70%), Napoleonic Wars (66%) and Zulu & Colonial wars (65%). All these subjects are covered regularly in the magazine.

The magazine cover is regarded as an effective indicator of the contents with 79% of readers saying it reflects the magazine’s contents either very accurately or quite accurately. With our new improved cover, this should make it an even stronger selling tool. 82% of readers who buy MI at a newsagent do not order it regularly but make their minds up on the spot.

74% of readers consider MI value for money, with 54% of them saying it is good value. Only 3% said it was too expensive.

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