DUMB?? -Who is intended audience for Mishpacha/Bina/Hamodia?

amother

Burlywood ↓

Sun, Jul 14 2024, 10:44 pm

amother Daisy wrote:

I am neither yeshivish nor chassidish and I am a far cry from being simple, yet I read the Binah.
Thanks for the ugly stereotyping

I thought I'm the only one! I usually buy the Ami and Binah, but I enjoy the Binah so much more. The actual Ami doesn't cover anything I'm interested in. The Ami Living is just sensationalized and poorly researched. And the Aim is crazy non-Jewish stories with Jewish character names... I think I'm going to stop buying it because every week I get frustrated with different aspects of it.

The Binah is wholesome, torah'dig, and relevant to my life. I'm a highly educated professional, and I have access to secular reading material, but I find that the Binah talks to me as an educator, as a mother, and as a Jewish woman. I don't read every single article. But I read most of it and I really enjoy it!

coloredleaves

Sun, Jul 14 2024, 11:13 pm

Mishpacha for sure men read too. Yonatan rosenbaum, rav Lapiansky, Rabbi neuberger, rabbi Besser, etc are columns husbands read and talk about as do yeshiva bochrim Im and women as well. Many just plain frum, non yeshivish read mishpacha for sure.
Perhaps slightly more yeshivish but a very decent amount of non yeshivish. Probably just not very very modern orthodox like Rama's or Flatbush.
But many yu modern orthodox for sure reads it. Any articles are high quality and appreciated by a wide range of hashkafis-
Yonasan rosenblums column for example is extremely high level writing and research / awareness - kind of a social commentary and politics mixed- and not overly yeshivish. Very thoughtful and personal/ vulnerable as well.
Rabbi Eisenman is not a paricually yeshivish shul or viewpoint and he has a column, Ari and Ari historic oriented adventures are not at all yeshivish. one Ari is obviously and proudly Zionist and hesder system in israel- not remotely yeshivish. Hashkafos aren't addressed in the articles as they are adventures around shalach a and history but he does not dress yeshivish or pretend to be.
I woudl agree it is mostly yeshivish and the kitchel comic is yeshivish jokes- but still very broad and varied writers.

I have a wide range of hashkafis in my extended family icnisuing machmir yu, oot yeshivish annd in town yeshivish annd they all read mishpacha.
And certainly men equal to women. The women's magazines inserts are the ones for women- though all the men I know read selected articles from those too if the title interests them, just not the whole magazine like they might mishpacha.

amother

Crimson

Sun, Jul 14 2024, 11:55 pm

Here's what I want to say:

I am an avid reader of Binah and a university educated professional who is not particularly yeshivish. While the English sometimes makes me cringe (especially more recently, I feel like the most recent editors may not be native English speakers), I find that only Binah delivers the dose of Tochen that I am looking for. I don't have time to open many seforim or attend shiurim, but on Shabbos I can read a regular column on relatable Shmiras Halashon scenarios (Feathers in the Wind), a Bitachon Vaad (it's absolutely beautiful, includes an article and a poem), and very academic and thought provoking text based divrei Torah before every Yom Tov (plus I love Rabbi Leiby Burnham's occasional articles, Yael Mermelstein, Peshie Needleman, and Sheva Brand). There is no other magazine offering me that level of material, even if the fiction isn't always well written.

amother

Tangerine ↓

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 2:04 am

Echoing some previous posters here to say I find the Binah to be the most compelling as well. And no, I am not "simple", thank you very much. Educated, access to secular media and I enjoy quality writing with real depth.

I do read the Mishpacha and Ami from time to time (when in other people's homes) and I can never finish either of them. Maybe two or three articles will pull me, sometimes another one or two. The Binah I can read from cover to cover, maybe skip a page or two, depending on the week.

And I'm really lol at people saying Binah doesn't have the best writers. Maybe their random submissions, like some of their fiction stories, are subpar, but their own writers are among the best in the frum world. As in E.G. Schwartz, Sara Wiederblank, Yael Mermelstein, Suri Epstein, Mindy Blumendfeld. Rare, genuine talent.

In contrast, I find some fiction in other mags to be rambling, plotless, sensationalist and often cliche.

Side point, the Mishpacha and Ami may be enjoyable, but my kids are getting older and there's so much in there I'd rather they not be exposed to. Not like I forbid them from reading it or anything, but I'm not looking to introduce it to my kids right now. The Ami more than the Mishpacha...Like, why would I want my 12yo reading about someone's dysfunctional marriage?

amother

Cherry ↓

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 2:07 am

amother Burlywood wrote:

The Binah is wholesome, torah'dig, and relevant to my life. I'm a highly educated professional, and I have access to secular reading material, but I find that the Binah talks to me as an educator, as a mother, and as a Jewish woman. I don't read every single article. But I read most of it and I really enjoy it!

And this is exactly what I don't want in the magazine. I find wholesome and toradik to be boring. If I want to learn Torah I'll sit down with a sefer or Torah book.

I don't want something that's just happy go lucky stories, my life is anything but wholesome and happy go lucky and great. I don't relate, it's content is very sheltered.

amother

↑ Tangerine ↓

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 2:07 am

amother Jetblack wrote:

It would have been interesting to make a poll of the 4 mags. to see which is the most read.
Mishpacha
Binah
Ami
Hamodia

.

This is not a secret; they each tout their circulation numbers when necessary, I.e. to attract advertisers.

Mishpacha has a circulation of approx. 250k
Yated has a circulation of approx. 200k
Amil has a circulation of approx 200k
Binah has a circulation of approx 180k
Hamodia has a circulation of approx 160k

amother

↑ Burlywood

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 8:48 am

amother Cherry wrote:

First off, it isn't just happy go lucky stories... there are some beautiful articles with a lot of depth. I guess for me, I wouldn't sit down with a sefer or Torah book, so reading some of the more spiritual articles in the Binah gives me that elevated feeling of being connected to Hashem... and my life is far from perfect, although I do have a lot to thank Hashem for... I don't find that the magazine portrays an unrealistic view of life. Just one that is infused with Torah... the Bitachon series is something that resonates weekly and lives in my mind constantly. I feel like it has permanently impacted my bitachon in a positive way.

I guess the core difference between Binah and Ami is the role you want your magazines to play. When I sit down to read something, I want to learn and grow. I want to expand my mind and expose myself to new ideas... for some, magazines are an escape - cotton candy for the mind. Something entertaining, a bit sensationalish or thrilling, and not too deep...

amother

↑ Cherry

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 10:31 am

amother Burlywood wrote:

I like deep things. I love learning, the Family First has the new section about mental health, trauma, stuff like that. I love that section. I love reading about all different kinds of things, and I like entertainment.

But not sensationalist stuff. Very real, raw. Essays about things I relate to, miscarriage, trauma, pain, motherhood seen through lenses of things like that. Not like oh kids are hard but it's such a bracha. I don't relate.

I feel like my bitachon and emunah is built by real and raw essays and stories and women. Like the war dairy series. Not a rebbetzin or cute stories that make your heart feel good.

amother

Mulberry ↓

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 11:31 am

amother Tangerine wrote:

Just curious, how recent are these numbers and where did you get them from? Because, a couple of years ago, Binah (I had a subscription at the time) had 2 weeks in a row where they accidentally printed some sort of tax invoice in place of one of their ads (it was included on a half page advertisement) and it listed how many magazines were being printed and the number was nowhere near 180k. I don't remember the exact number but it was definitely less than 100k. Something like 65k. And if anything, I think their numbers have dropped in the past couple of years. Many of their writers seem to have migrated to other magazines lately.
(It also seems kind of unlikely that Binah has 20k more print copies in circulation than Hamodia.)

amother

↑ Daffodil

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 12:40 pm

mha3484 wrote:

I buy a binah for the yomtovim but I find the cost of the magazine for what feels like so few pages turns me off. In this economy I wonder if I am the only one who wants to get a lot of pages for a fairly expensive magazine.

And the first 50-100 pages of the ami are ads in the yomtov ones.

↑ mha3484

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 4:49 pm

Sorry I wasnt clear. On a regular week I look at a bina in the grocery store and it seems like so few pages for the 8-9 dollars. The expanded editions for yomtov have a lot of ads but its still more to read then the regular weekly issue. The mishpacha I feel like has a much better ratio of cost to non ad pages.

amother

↑ Tangerine ↓

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 11:15 pm

amother Mulberry wrote:

I got these numbers quoted to me from each of the magazines themselves when I was looking for a paper to advertise my business in just before Pesach. They're also on the papers' websites so I would assume they're current.

And lol to that tax invoice in the Binah. They do it every year and I can assure you it's not by mistake. They obviously have to do it for legal reasons; no one mistakenly prints something like that every year. But if you look at it closely you'll see it's only for the U.S., and I'm pretty sure only for subscriptions, which makes sense. They sell all over the world...

amother

↑ Mulberry ↓

Tue, Jul 16 2024, 12:33 am

amother Tangerine wrote:

I've had frum magazine subscriptions for years (well over a decade) and no, I've never once seen a tax invoice printed inside in any of the others and it was just twice in subsequent weeks in Binah. There's no way it wasn't a mistake. (Handwritten numbers filled in and the invoice signed by the publisher. I've never seen that before or since.) Plus, as far as I know their magazine is printed in the U.S. and then flown to other countries (remember, the magazine didn't make it in time to Israel before Pesach this year, they finally got it sent the following week after YT). And the numbers written in those invoices were clearly labeled as magazine print quantity, not subscription quantity, which therefore included the entire amount in circulation not just in the U.S.

amother

↑ Tangerine

Tue, Jul 16 2024, 12:50 am

amother Mulberry wrote:

I've worked in publishing for years. You cannot imagine how many times a magazine like the Binah is reviewed and then reviewed again and then again before print.

Mistakes happen. All the time. Typos, errors in recipes etc. But not like this. There is no way almost an entire page got past all the layers and layers of editors without anyone seeing it. Not once, but twice.

And it wasn't just once; they print that tax invoice once a year. No way it's a mistake.

I remember differently re the circulation numbers on the invoice. It said sold in U.S., not printed. And again, I'm telling you what they told me/what's on their site. Feel free to think differently.

amother

↑ Mulberry

Tue, Jul 16 2024, 3:34 am

amother Tangerine wrote:

So you do remember the 2 times that this happened, in 2 consecutive weeks? It was around 2 years ago. Can you explain why this never happened in all the prior years of my Binah subscription? Also why the other magazines have not done this if it is legally required? It wasn't an entire page btw. It was a half of a half page (so, a quarter).