What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Throughout this project I have been looking at, for reference, five music magazines: Mojo, Q, Uncut, NME and Kerrang!. After doing this so far I decided to continue to do it when answering this question, and therefore decided to choose as the distributor for my magazine the publisher of one of the five music magazines I have been looking at. This, however, leaves me with a limited choice, as only two companies are responsible for distributing all five of these magazines and many more besides. This is not really surprising, as the entire consumer magazine industry is dominated by only a few companies. They can be seen in this table which I made for my magazine analysis, and are as follows:
IPC Media summary (from their website)-
Bauer Media reaches over nineteen million UK adults across multiple media channels. We have more than eighty influential media brands spanning a wide range of interests, including heat, GRAZIA, Closer, MCN, FHM, Parker's, MATCH, Magic 105.4, Kiss 100, Kerrang!, 4Music and the Big City Network, our group of twenty local radio stations.
The magazine which I conducted my in-detail analysis of, Mojo, and the magazine which I decided in Evaluation Question 2 to be closest to my magazine in content and in terms of representing a certain social group, Q, are both published by Bauer Media; this really does give me quite an easy choice. However, there are other factors to consider as well, such as the circulation. If I want my magazine to be successful then I want it to be distributed by a company which has a track-record of having high levels of circulation. Bauer manages to beat IPC in this area as well, since its weekly music magazine's (Kerrang!'s) circulation is 43,253 while IPC's weekly music magazine's (NME's) circulation is 40,948. This is largely irrelevant, since my magazine is going to be a monthly one, but Bauer's monthly music magazines also have a much higher circulation than their IPC counterpart. Both Q and Mojo have a circulation exceeding Uncut's by well over 20,000.
Another good thing about Bauer Media is that it already publishes two monthly music magazines, and therefore shouldn't be worried about losing sales through competing against itself. IPC Media only publishes one monthly music magazine, and publishing my magazine as well might put the sales of Uncut at risk; it would obviously be stupid of them to distribute my magazine if the majority of money they'd be making was being taken away from their sales of Uncut as people bought Untitled instead. This means that Bauer should theoretically be more willing to distribute my magazine. However, there is also the possibility of this going the other way, and Bauer not wanting to publish a third monthly music magazines as it already publishes two.
In conclusion, I have decided to have Bauer Media distribute my magazine. This is because it already has experience in publishing two very popular monthly music magazines, and should therefore have the expertise to make my magazine a success also. The image to the left shows the covers of different Bauer Media magazines with mine among them, and I think that it looks quite in fitting with the company's image (as varied as it is). All covers feature a single person most prominently on the cover, and while this is not always the case it does seem to be the majority of the time.
Throughout this project I have been looking at, for reference, five music magazines: Mojo, Q, Uncut, NME and Kerrang!. After doing this so far I decided to continue to do it when answering this question, and therefore decided to choose as the distributor for my magazine the publisher of one of the five music magazines I have been looking at. This, however, leaves me with a limited choice, as only two companies are responsible for distributing all five of these magazines and many more besides. This is not really surprising, as the entire consumer magazine industry is dominated by only a few companies. They can be seen in this table which I made for my magazine analysis, and are as follows:
IPC Media summary (from their website)-
IPC Media produces over 85 iconic media brands, with our print brands alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 44% of UK men – almost 27 million UK adults – while our online brands collectively reach 20 million users every month.
IPC's diverse print and digital portfolio offers something for everyone, with a focus on three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women.
Our men's portfolio (IPC Inspire) comprises a wealth of leisure brands including Country Life, Horse & Hound, Rugby World and Decanter, as well as lifestyle brands including Nuts, Mousebreaker and NME.
Bauer Media summary (from their website)-
Our business is built on millions of personal relationships with engaged readers and listeners. We connect audiences with compelling content, whenever, wherever, and however they want. Our unique insight allows us to work closely with our customers to develop innovative solutions that create a difference to their business.
The magazine which I conducted my in-detail analysis of, Mojo, and the magazine which I decided in Evaluation Question 2 to be closest to my magazine in content and in terms of representing a certain social group, Q, are both published by Bauer Media; this really does give me quite an easy choice. However, there are other factors to consider as well, such as the circulation. If I want my magazine to be successful then I want it to be distributed by a company which has a track-record of having high levels of circulation. Bauer manages to beat IPC in this area as well, since its weekly music magazine's (Kerrang!'s) circulation is 43,253 while IPC's weekly music magazine's (NME's) circulation is 40,948. This is largely irrelevant, since my magazine is going to be a monthly one, but Bauer's monthly music magazines also have a much higher circulation than their IPC counterpart. Both Q and Mojo have a circulation exceeding Uncut's by well over 20,000.
Another good thing about Bauer Media is that it already publishes two monthly music magazines, and therefore shouldn't be worried about losing sales through competing against itself. IPC Media only publishes one monthly music magazine, and publishing my magazine as well might put the sales of Uncut at risk; it would obviously be stupid of them to distribute my magazine if the majority of money they'd be making was being taken away from their sales of Uncut as people bought Untitled instead. This means that Bauer should theoretically be more willing to distribute my magazine. However, there is also the possibility of this going the other way, and Bauer not wanting to publish a third monthly music magazines as it already publishes two.
In conclusion, I have decided to have Bauer Media distribute my magazine. This is because it already has experience in publishing two very popular monthly music magazines, and should therefore have the expertise to make my magazine a success also. The image to the left shows the covers of different Bauer Media magazines with mine among them, and I think that it looks quite in fitting with the company's image (as varied as it is). All covers feature a single person most prominently on the cover, and while this is not always the case it does seem to be the majority of the time.
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