Hannah Wood

Evaluation Q3 What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Bauer Media Group

✤ Bauer Media Group is Europe’s largest privately owned publishing company who offer over 300 magazines in 15 countries.

✤ A dominant magazine Bauer publish is Kerrang which I have used as one of my style models. I would personally love for this company to distribute my music magazine as Kerrang magazine has been very successful with the general public; in the early 2000’s it became the best-selling British newspaper.

✤ I think that if my magazine ‘Buzz’ was stocked alongside Kerrang magazine and shown to stockists by the same publisher as Kerrang the sales would be high and consistent. This is because although they may be in competition, shops will want to offer similar genre magazines to the public to increase the chance of customers walking away with more than one purchase.

✤ My magazine and Kerrang are of slightly different genres of music, Buzz is more pop/indie and Kerrang is very rock and roll however the two do have an overlap. People with a wide music taste will be attracted to both magazines so I think if Bauer published ‘Buzz,’ I would be successful due to the already high audience buying Kerrang.

✤ ‘Buzz’ would increase Bauers profits by adding another genre of music magazine to the collection that they already publish which is Kerrang, Q and Mojo.

Time Inc. UK (formerly International Publishing Corporation and IPC Media)

✤ Time Inc. is a consumer magazine publisher in the UK who sell over 350 million copies of the magazines in their publishing collecting each year. Because of this I would love for them to publish and distribute my magazine as their audience recognition and understanding in the UK is clearly very extensive.

✤ NME magazine is published by Time Inc. and I used that magazine as one of my style models as it is a similar genre to mine. Time Inc. is one of the leading media institutions in the UK and I think that my magazine, ‘Buzz,’ would fit in well alongside the other music magazines they offer.

✤ 26 million adults in the UK read a magazine that is published by Time Inc. so it is almost guaranteed that my magazine would be clearly seen by the public in order for them to make their own judgements on wether to buy it or not. I would be ensured that it is being published well due to the high statistics.

✤ My magazine may compete with other magazines that Time Inc. publish however ultimately they would be making a profit as they would increasing the size of their magazine portfolio they can present to stockists for them to sell-on in their stores.

My Choice

I would specifically choose Bauer Media to distribute my magazine purely due to the fact that they already distribute Kerrang magazine. My magazine is heavily influenced by many aspects of Kerrang and I think that Kerrang’s existing target audience, which is very similar to mine, would be attracted to my magazine even more if it had the same distributor. This would mean that my magazine has a good chance of being on shelves alongside Kerrang magazine which would mean my target audience are likely to be introduced to it whilst picking up a copy of Kerrang or something similar such as Q magazine which is also distributed by Bauer.