Evaluation Activity 3 Draft

Evaluation Activity 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

the institution that publishes a magazine has an immense impact on how niche or mainstream they are going to be and also, how successful they are going to be. i have researched into this and believe i have come to a conclusion on which institution i think would be best to publish my alternative music magazine. this institution is The Bauer Media Group. This is a European company, who were founded in 1875. They cover many different genres and types of magazines but are best known for their bigger magazine titles, such as Q, Kerrang and MOJO; all of which are mainstream, meaning they are easily accessible to consumers and can be purchased in a range of different paces, from petrol stations to big supermarkets. i think that Bauer would be the ideal institution to publish my magazine as, as you can see above, they have actually covered an 80s themed magazine in the past before, just like the sort of thing i would like to achieve. overall, i think this the institution that would reach my target audience of both younger and older music lovers the most effectively.

After doing some research into Bauer, I have noticed that they sell a real array of magazines; all focusing on quite specific topics, from Trains to Fishing. I looked into the kind of music magazines that they produce and found that they tend to stick to the Rock genre for example, Kerrang magazine, one of the most well-known Rock magazines. However, they do touch on other genres, such as MOJO. They claim to cover “the very best of music across genres. From classic and modern rock, folk, soul, country to reggae, electronic and experimental.” however, they don’t say anything about alternative. I think that my magazine could bring some new fans in for Bauer Media, but also attract the current ones, as I’m positive some of their fans will have intrest in my Alternative Genre. I think it would be nice for Bauer to have a change and hopefully we could both help each other out with them helping me out by publishing my magazine obviously and then me helping them out by bringing something new to the company.

There are wide range of distribution companies I could've gone for such as Time Inc, which is one of the UK’s leading and most successful magazine and digital publishing companies. They have sold many of the most well known brands like NME, an extremely successful music magazine. However, I think Bauer Media is best for me, as it is a worldwide institution. Bauer offer over 300 different magazines in 15 different countries and not only that, but this is online, TV and radio stations. I know that if I wanted them too, Bauer have the capability of publishing my magazine globally because it is a multinational company. Meaning my magazine can be viewed worldwide. However, I have found that they do publish more niche magazines, for more niche audiences, which is exactly what i wanted as my target audience is quite specific with it being 80s themed, which will not appeal to everyone. I would publish my magazine monthly at a medium/average price to make customers happy but my price could possibly be too much for something sold weekly. I’d say Q is a magazine that has been distributed by Bauer that is similar to the sort of thing I would like to produce. Q is sold monthly and can only be brought by subscription or in specific news agents/music stores; exactly how i would distribute my magazine. I am positive that this is the company that can guarantee that my magazine is read  by my target audience and will help me be a successful as i would like to be.