Audiences and Institutions

This is the research I did on magazine publishing companies using their websites.

 

Bauer

 Bauer media is a successful, worldwide magazine production company. It operates a large range of best-selling magazines, such as; ‘Grazia’, ‘Heat’ and ‘Closer’ but also creates less recognised magazines. They produce both mainsteam magazines, niche magazines and other types of media, such as television and radio channels. Due to their vast production of media, they can generally satisfy a large target audience of all ages, both male and female, due to their multi-genre media. This gives the company a professional and helpful image. Some of their magazines have links between other types of media, such as websites. ‘Kerrang!’ for example, have connections with radio, websites, tv and even mobile. This helps promote the magazine and the company itself, which will increase the popularity.

IPC Media

 IPC Media has many music magazines, which are mainly focused on niche audiences, with some which are mainstream such as NME. However, because of their large variety of music genres they still have a large target audience. A lot of their mainsteam magazines focus on women such as ‘Look’ magazine, so they gain a lot of attention from female readers. Their television magazines are generally unisex, and focus on updating readers with information about television programmes. This gives their company a friendly and welcoming image even though their target audience is generally only adults. Also, they have links with events etc. but focus most of their production on magazines.

 

BBC Magazines

 BBC Magazines produce a large range of magazines in relation to their BBC channels broadcasted on the television and also radio, which is why their magazines range from varieties such as ‘Top Gear’ to ‘Wildlife’. This is the reason for their wide ranged target audience, aiming at all ages and people of almost any interest, therefore the company gains a more hospitable image.  Due to this each individual magazine is very informative as it only has one main focus, so they target readers who are passionate about the subject. Their magazines are niche, because of their singular focus however the distribution of them is worldwide so they could be classified as mainstream. The BBC gains most of its recognition from its television and radio channels, this increases the awareness of the magazine side to the company.

Development Hell

 This is a media based company, which develops 2 niche magazines. ‘Word and ‘Mixmag’ that come with their own websites and are mainly directed at men aged 20 +. It focuses on an audience with a particular taste in music which means it has minimal popularity and isn’t a big selling magazine. However, they do try to link their customers with their other products by using many adverts in their magazines and websites. This will increase their net profit and overall popularity. One aspect which makes them stand out is their brand name which is displayed using an unusual logo which gains the company attention in the market because of its originality and debateable image.

Future PLC

Future PLC is a leading music magazine company which publishes film magazines in the UK, guitars and music making magazines in the UK and US. Their magazines are some of the most successful and bestselling magazines in the industry. They produce a lot of music based magazines, catering to many different genres, but mainly guitar-related music such as rock. They are currently producing a guitar magazine called ‘Guitar World’ which is the world’s biggest guitar magazine. Their company also includes links to websites and events which provide their readers with more information. Future manages many guitar based magazines, which focus entirely on guitars and guitar-related music; they also produce classic rock magazines, which focus on new rock music and the changes in rock itself. Two other main magazines they operate are ‘Metal Hammer’ magazine and ‘Revolver’ which focus on heavy metal and hard core rock. Most of futures magazines host connection with their other magazines and websites, linking their audience to all of their products. Their magazines also sponsor and host events which has proved another tactful way to introduce people to their other publications.