Magazine advertising is the ads you see placed throughout publications. Starting up or maintaining a magazine is dependant on a few factors, but one of the most important is advertising. Magazine advertising can make or break a publication. Nearly all magazines depend on the revenue generated by their advertisers to stay in business.

It is very important to have magazine advertising in place before a new publication is placed on the market. At the beginning, the revenue from ads can pay for staff wages and help with the start up costs. Not only that, but the right type of advertisement placed through a magazine can also boost the magazine's sales.

The diversity of magazines available today is staggering. From dog lovers to funeral directors, there seems to be a magazine for everyone. Advertisers are aware that a strategically placed ad in the right magazine can improve their business many times over.

If you look at the glossy magazines, they seem to be almost 80% advertisements. The reason for this is that magazines such as GQ or Vogue are seen as aspirational magazines. The magazine advertising within their pages reflects the message of the magazine and the audience they are trying to reach.

People who read GQ or Vogue are supposedly the elite in terms of lifestyle. They are up to the minute in areas such as fashion and they have a large disposable income. The magazine advertising in GQ and Vogue caters specifically to that audience – designer clothes, high performance cars, luxury living. Whole features can be written around a product.

Sometimes a product is interwoven through a feature without the reader being aware of it. It may be a feature on a day at a certain spa in which a number of products are mentioned. The magazine advertising in this feature is not only the spa, but also the products used at the spa. These types of articles are seen as advice givers, and their potential for pushing a product is huge. They can market the product to millions of people through their recommendation in the magazine.

Billions of dollars are spent annually on magazine advertising. Because of the amount of money involved, the brands that are being advertised, more often than not, have a say in what will be in the magazine. They can stipulate where they would like the ad, what type of content should be placed next to it and even what should not be in the magazine in which they are placing the ad.

Magazine advertising is one of the most powerful marketing tools available. An ad placed in a magazine can improve sales enormously. Editors are, however, aware of the editorial changes that can be made by corporations through magazine advertising. Magazine advertising by major corporations nearly always has a content impact on the magazine. This editorial power has to be weighed up when deciding on the advertising and the money involved.