Study: Websites of American Magazines

The Bivings Group has started a new feature called ‘Friday's Five’ to showcase a weekly top 5 list. This week's list builds on their study “Analyzing the Websites of American Magazines" and gives the rundown of the Bivings five favorite magazine websites.

1. TV Guide: Site has tons of content related to TV and movies, including reviews, previews, video snippets, listings and interesting blog features.
Cool features: The 40+ celebrity blogs (comments allowed!) are augmented by community blogs maintained by readers.
2. Rolling Stone: Photos, videos, and blogs. User reviews and ratings of movies and cds. The most interesting feature is their section for listening to music.
Cool features: After a quick download of a mini-Rhapsody player (no registration required!), users can listen to music featured in the print edition of Rolling Stone. Celebrity playlists are another cool feature.
3. Better Homes and Gardens: BHG.com has alot of nifty features starting with a the shnazy feature box on the homepage.
Cool features: The "clip it" feature lets you save tidbits of information in your myBHG.com account so you can use them later. A downloadable widget gets you updates from the website. Interactive home design tools are also fun.
4. Family Circle: Offers similar functionality as BHG.com–reader comments for articles and features, bookmarking articles and features in their site accounts, and a tag cloud linked to message boards appears on the main site.
5. US News and World Report: The content is professional, interesting, and easy to browse.
Cool features: Highly valued content (primarily in the rankings section ) is available to a larger audience. The design is sane–the site isn't overcrowded, loaded with doohickeys, or cluttered with too many headlines.

What do you look for in magazine websites and what are some of your favorites? Share in the comments.

Download the Bivings Magazine report here