A “Media Institution” defines any organisation that is responsible for the production, marketing, distribution or regulation of media texts. Some examples of major institutions include the British Broadcasting Corporation, also known as the BBC, is one of the biggest institutions in the UK and it is responsible for the the production, marketing, distribution and regulation of its own media texts and products. Another, very different example of an institution is the British Board of Film Classification, which is a regulator of media texts, regulating and moderating the classification and age ratings of films in the UK before they are distributed for theatrical and home release to the general public.
Since my product is going to be a music magazine, I am going to be doing research into various key magazine publishing institutions in the UK in order to decide which institutions would be potentially suitable and appropriate for my product, and which institutions are not.
One potential institution to publish my magazine could be Bauer Media Group. This institution is a multinational media company based in Germany, operating in 15 countries worldwide. The company’s magazine circulation amounts to around 38 million magazines per week worldwide. A company this highly regarded and successful would therefore be a great choice as the distributor of my product.
The genre of my music magazine is going to be pop-punk/hardcore, however the institution responsible for publishing my magazine does not necessarily have to have any affiliations with this genre other than my magazine itself; ‘Kerrang!’ Magazine, a magazine that specifies in rock/metal music, is published by Bauer Media Group who also publish magazines such as ‘Bella’ and ‘That’s Life!’, titles which are a complete contrast to Kerrang!. Therefore institutions who publish magazines are often in charge of a very diverse range of media products that cover many different genres and formats. The company’s portfolio also includes ‘Take A Break’, ‘TVQuick’, ‘TVChoice’ and ‘Q’. The depth of their portfolio makes them an interesting choice of a company to work with as it is clear that a lot of thought has been put into the contrast between the genres of their products to ensure that their products generally appeal to a very wide market of consumers; effectively there is a Bauer Media Group magazine to suit everyone. This is the reason why I feel that my magazine, ‘Pit’, would easily fit into their portfolio as they do not currently publish a magazine that covers music of the hardcore/pop-punk genre. The magazine would be greatly different to the two music magazines they already distribute, and a polar opposite to the rest of their portfolio which covers real life, women’s lifestyle, puzzles and TV listings. Kerrang’s target audience is specifically aimed at people between the ages of 15-24, so the magazine will have been produced specifically for the appeal of this age category, and this is shown in recent NRS figures that prove that people between the ages of 15-24 are the age category who are most likely to purchase and read Kerrang! magazine, with 56.1% of their readers being this age, a much higher percentage than any other age category. Another notable point is that the majority, specifically 54.7%, of Kerrang’s readers are male, and as previously stated, I am going to endeavour to ensure that my magazine appeals well to the male gender due to the fact that generally more magazines are purchased by females than males and i I would like to encourage males to be interested in my product. However statistics prove that in this kind of genre (heavier music), it is in fact males who are more likely to read these magazines, so achieving my aim should not be a problem provided I ensure my magazine it suitably appealing for males who fall into my target audience age category. The fact that the age category that buy the most Kerrang! magazines is also the target audience I am choosing for my magazine is another reason behind my choice of Bauer Media as an institution to distribute my magazine, as though the genres differ, the target audience of general music lovers who enjoy live music and general updates and interviews of their favourite bands are the same and I will therefore maintain this sample for my product. Being distributed by Bauer Media Group would also allow my magazine to be infiltrated into many other media areas and to be spread across other media brands; Kerrang! magazine, which is one of Bauer’s most successful products with an average weekly circulation of over 42000, has its own website, radio station, TV channel and UK tour. Kerrang! and my magazine, ‘Pit’, will be appealing to a similar marketing demographic, despite the difference in specifically covered genres, meaning there would be a great opportunity for my magazine to also have its own range of extended media brands such as a TV channel, a website and a radio station. This opportunity would allow my magazine to attract a larger audience, gain more publicity and in turn generate much more revenue. The chance to spread across to other media platforms is very important to me with regards to my magazine as I have chosen to produce a magazine that covers genres that are not yet covered in any available magazine in the UK; the target audience for my product are not currently able to purchase anything similar to my product, watch TV channels that include their favourite bands or listen to them on the radio. If ‘Pit’ magazine gave them these opportunities, this would mean pop-punk and hardcore may finally begin to escape from the underground, break into the mainstream in the UK and gain an even bigger following. As both ‘Kerrang!’ and ‘Q’ are very highly-regarded, well-respected and popular music magazines with much extended content, I feel that Bauer Media Group should therefore be my top choice as the UK publishing company that will be in charge of distributing my magazine.
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A publishing company that would certainly not be suitable for the responsibility of distributing my magazine is Titan Magazines. Titan Magazines is the magazine publishing division of Titan Publishing Group. They specialise in many film and TV-Related Titles, as well as comic-book magazines. Their portfolio, including past and current titles, includes ‘Heroes’ magazine, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Comic, ‘CSI’ magazine, ‘Star Trek’ Magazine, ‘Torchwood’ Comic, DC Universe Presents (comic series), and ‘The Walking Dead’ magazine plus many more that fall into the categories of Film/TV and comic-books. The depth of their portfolio does not venture much further than this narrow selection of genres and content nature, meaning that in comparison to another institution like the Bauer Media Group, Titan Magazines appeals to a much narrower, smaller and more specific target audience. Whereas Bauer Media Group is likely to publish at least one if not two magazines to suit everyone’s taste, Titan Magazines only publishes products that appeal to a certain type of consumer with specific interests, which in their case will most likely be either young children or even adults with slightly childish interests surrounding TV series and comic books. In addition to this, most of Titan Magazine’s products cease production after two or three years, meaning that the majority of their publications are only temporary – for my music magazine it is vital that the distributor of my product is experienced in the distribution and marketing of long-term and long standing magazines rather than a product that will have continuously plummeting sales after its initial release and ends up coming off the shelves for good before too long. The nature and the depth of the portfolio of this media institution and its entirely different target audience makes Titan Magazines very unsuitable for the choice of the distributor of my media product.
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Another highly unsuitable media institution for the responsibility of distributing my magazine is Future PLC. In 2006, Future PLC was the sixth-largest media company in the United Kingdom, publishing more than 150 magazines that cover genres such as video games, technology, automotive, cycling, films and photography. It is also the official magazine company of all three major games console manufacturers. Its titles include magazines such as 3D World, Computer Arts, Maximum PC, Windows: The Official Magazine, GamesMaster, Playstation: The Official Magazine, Xbox World, PC Gamer, Nintendo: The Official Magazine, CrossSticher, Photography Week, Your Family Tree, Simply Knitting, Practical Photoshop, Cycling Plus, Mountain Biking UK, Total Vauxhall and many more. The depth of this media institution’s portfolio is largely hobby orientated; the typical consumer for their products is someone that has a practical hobby that they like to read about, rather than just an interest or talking point. There is a large amount of evidence to support the idea of the kind of target audience that this media institution’s products mainly appeal to, such as the circulation figures of the most popular hobby magazines they produce. Figures such as 70556 per month for one of the company’s major Gadgets magazines ‘T3’ show that the specific “hobby”-type content of their magazines is exactly what makes their products so popular. Although the institution does produce a small selection of music magazines, these magazines differ greatly to the kind of music magazine I will be producing. My magazine is intended to appeal to people who are interested in listening to music and going to shows, and not necessarily people who actually play their own instruments or produce and write their own music, which is the niche of the music market that Future PLC’s products cover (their music-related titles include Guitar Techniques, Guitarist, Prog, Rhythm and Future Music). In conclusion, it is clear that, demographically, Future PLC produces the kind of publications that are largely unsuitable for my target audience due to the large difference in content and interests of readers.
emmachadwickmedia 