Evaluation Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

In the magazine industry there are two main companies that produce magazines, these are:

IPC MEDIA - This company produces two music magazines; NME and UNCUT.

This is the companies logo - (visit their website at http://www.ipcmedia.com/)

BAEUR MEDIA - This company produces three main music magazines; Kerrang, Mojo and Q.
This is the companies logo - (visit their website athttp://www.bauermedia.co.uk/)

In the past Bauer Mediaproduced the music magazine Smash Hits which would have been the main competitor with my magazine. This magazine is no longer made and therefore there is an opening for this type of magazine in the market.

As it stands my magazines main competitor is TOP OF THE POPS which is produced by the BBC.

This is mymain compeotitor because the genre of this magazine is also chart music. Its target audience aims towards teenage girls which is represented through the pink and purple colour scheme and also the male artists included on the front of the magazine. The bbc describe this magazine as

"Every issue is packed with amazing star gossip, plus hot fashion and beauty advice, sexy lads, and side-splitting cringes. Take a personality quiz to find out more about yourself, check your horoscope, sing along to our songwords, or simply pop an exclusive poster on your bedroom wall."

From the simplistic languageused here for example "sexy lads" shows that this magazine is aimed towards teenage girls whowill want to read about heart throbs like Justin Bieber.

Over the years it has become increasingly easier to make magazines meaning the number of entrants to this market has increased dramatically. However not all magazines that enter the market get past the introduction stage of a products life cyclewhich is why the magazine industry is a niche market. Magazines are in the niche market because they are specific products for specific market needs; it considers the price of the magazine, production quality and also the demographics that it intends to impact. Amagazine used to be very costly to make and distribute because computors and their software were expensive as well as the printing costs. However as technology has advanced it has become increasingly easier and cheaper to produce magazines. With the help from CAD, editing software and top of the range computors magazines can be made at a quicker speed (time is money) the less time it takes to make the more time you have to sell the magazine.Email and faxing has allowed companies to send their finished products straight to the printer. Companies will usually send their magazine to the printer near where they want to distribute to reduce transport costs.

I think that Bauer Media would be the right media institution to distribute my magazine because as it stands they currently have 3 MENS music magazines and nothing that focuses on the younger boys. Q focuses on the biggest stars in the business and also includes sport and comedy in their magazine; it uses complex language in order to target the older male market. Mojo focuses onclassic bands and soul music featuring bands such as the beetles and radiohead. Kerrang is a rock magazine and so includes bands such as slip knot and metallica. As you can see Bauer Media do not publish any chart magazines and therefore I feel there is a gap in the market. All three of Bauer magazines have been successful and so with the right direction I feel SYNC magazine could be a real hit with the younger generation.