Audience and Institutions

Before I started deciding on magazines and layouts, I thought that I should research some audiences and institutions to see how music magazines branch out into other areas and what comapnies own certain genres.

BAUER

Bauer produces many different types of magazines. They own a wide range of all the popular gossips magazines like Heat! and More! As well as men’s magazines, fishing magazines, motorist magazines and music magazines. They produce a mixture of niche and mainstream magazines which means there company extends to all parts of the market as they have magazines for niche markets such as photography as well as huge markets like women’s gossip magazines. As they make so many different types of magazines they have many different audiences, for example magazines such as Zoo are mainly aimed at men or young boys who like to look at women, whereas they have niche magazines like Rail which are aimed at people who are interested in trains. As a result of this Bauer has targeted all sorts of people and produce for everyone, whether it is as small of a market as golf or a huge as women’s gossip magazines. The brands image is also very wide because of this as they don’t just do one thing; they do many different genres and address many people in doing so. Bauer also has linked many of its magazines to radio and TV, such as Kerrang and Q because they both have radio stations and TV programmes which they own. They also have extended gossip magazines such as Heat! Into radio, therefore there media group is very large and is involved in all parts of media. Most of their magazines also have online sites and some are even available on mobiles, so there business expands through all media aspects.

IPC MEDIA

IPC media makes many different types of magazines, such as music magazines (NME), Fashion magazines (In Style) and Television magazines (TV Satellite). Because they produce so many magazines they cover main markets such as music and fashion as well as less popular niche markets such as boating (Boat Owner) and Hunting magazines (Shooting Gazette). This means that they have more specific audiences for some magazines than others. The target audience for a television magazine will be everyone, as most people watch TV programmes and will want to know about what will be on in the next week. However for niche market magazines such as the Shooting gazette the audience is more specific as it is aimed at people who like hunting, and mainly men because not many women hunt. There overall brand image is very wide much like Bauer’s because they produce so many different types of magazines for many different audiences, so there brand image is quite universal. ICP media doesn’t really link any of their magazines to other media apart from online websites so people can access the magazine from the internet rather than going to get the magazine.

BBC MAGAZINES

 BBC magazines are owed by immediate media co, therefore are produced by the BBC but are published by immediate media co. The BBC does a wide range of magazines again for many different markets, however not as many as other companies. They have magazines mainly for niche markets such as gardening (Country file) or motoring (top gear) however it produces a lot of children’s magazines such as CBBC weekly, Dr Who Adventures and in the night garden.  As they mainly have children’s magazines, their audience for the majority of their magazines are children or teenagers. However for some of the other magazines, the target audience are more specific, like match of the day is mainly targeted at men who like football. There brand image overall is quite big as the BBC is also a television channel and is the source of most British television alongside ITV, therefore the brand is well known and big. There are big links within the media to the BBC as obviously they are a big brand who has online access, radio stations, multiple television stations and magazines, therefore they have many links throughout the industry.

DEVELOPMENT HELL

Development hell is only a small producing company as it only makes two magazines, the word and mix tape, both being very different. Mix tape applies to a niche market of the music industry, as it targets people who are interested in dance music, and although dance music is popular, there are other genres that are more mainstream. The other magazine ‘the word’ is a media magazine that talks about all aspects of the media: music, television and books. This is quite a large market as a lot of people want to know about these things on a regular basis, so the magazine is more mainstream. The overall brand image is basically all about the media as they are involved in magazines that talk about other sections of the media, so they are known for what they write based on that genre. The only links they have to other media is the internet as each magazine has a site, but it isn’t linked to anything else.

FUTURE PUBLISHING

Future publishing is a leading film magazine producer in the UK and USA. It also produces guitar and music making magazines, some of which are the best selling magazines in the industry.  They make many music magazines based on multiple genres to suit all peoples tastes, however they mainly produce rock or guitar based magazines for people with an interest in that kind of music. They cureently produce ‘guitars rock’ which is the top guitar magazine in the United Kingdom at the moment. They also produce links to websites that give more information on the magazines. Other popular magazines they produce are ‘metal hammer’ and ‘revolver’ which are based around heavy metal rock music. They have links to rock events and website so that their audience can find as much information about the rock genre as possible.