Magazine industry overview

Magazine industry overview.

The biggest consumer magazine publishers are Bauer, publishing up to 25% of magazines, IPC, publishing up to 20%, other publishers such as BBC magazine and National Magazine publish 7-8% of magazines.

Today in the UK, there are over 3,200 different consumer titles and 1.4 billion magazines being sold each year. 85% of the population reads a magazine and they spend £2 billion on magazines annually.

There are more than 8000 titles published in Britain which can be categorised as, consumer, business/trade, customer magazines, staff magazines, newspaper supplements, part works, and academic journals, which have their own target audience.

IPC media makes over 60 iconic media brands, and creates multiple platforms, across print, online, mobiles, tablets and events. As the UK’s leading consumer magazine publisher they engage with over 26million UK adults – almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of men.

IPC’s magazines that are aimed at men include: Nuts, Rugby world, ShootingUK and world soccer. Magazines aimed at women include: Woman’s weekly, Beautiful Kitchens, Chat and Essentials.

IPC have different divisions such as:

IPC connect: IPC Connect is IPC Media's mass market women's division with a range of brands that provide powerful reach. Connect's magazines are read by 9.4 million mass market women, which equates to 49% of all mass market women, while its digital brands reach over 5.3 million unique users and deliver 35 million page impressions every month. Connect's audience is highly valuable and responsive, responsible for the vast majority of UK purchasing decisions.

IPC Inspire: IPC Inspire is IPC’s men’s divison. Its portfolio of 38 brands covers a huge spectrum of interests and includes famous names from Country Life and The Field, to Nuts and NME.

Future plc is an international media group, founded in 1985 with one magazine, today they have operations in the UK, US and Australia creating over 200 specialist publications, apps, websites and events. Future plcis the No.1 technology publisher in the UK.

Future plc’s magazines are mainly aimed at males aged from teens to adults (20-30 year olds) and include magazines such as Xbox 360, Classic Rock, Playstation and Mountain Biking UK. 

How did you attract/address your audience?

My magazine addresses my target audience by including music and artist that they are interested in. Since my target audience includes ravers and clubbers, the music in my magazine is trance, electro and all music genres that would normally be heard at events like raves. The language I use in my magazine if quite informal, so that it appeals to the audience. The color scheme of the magazine would attract my target audience as I think they are colors that give a club-like feel, which would appeal to the audience. My advertisement mood board would appeal to the target audience as it is generally things that they would buy, or be interested in.

Looking back at your preliminary task (the college magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

On the right is my college magazine, it was very simple and did not have a lot of pictures or text, and the front cover and contents image were taken quickly and did not look very good. My magazine on the left has pictures which were taking in the studio at college and with a good camera, which gave my magazine a better look. On the cover is many stories, which all give a rough idea of what the magazine is about and what type of magazine it is. It has a big bold masthead which shows that it is obviously the name of the magazine. The main cover story is bigger and bolder than all other cover stories to show that it is the main story of the magazine, and it also associates with the picture on the cover of the magazine. With my contents page, I added sub-headings to the contents so that things could be found easier within the magazine. I also added more photos which linked to the stories in the magazine, with page numbers in the corners so they could be found easily. My magazine has a house style which I kept throughout my magazine.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

When making and working on my magazine, I have mainly been using photoshop and blogger. I have also used Issuu once, but found it relatively easy to use. I found blogger to be really handy in the ways you can present your work, and the amount of customization on your blog itself was really good so that I could have it the way I wanted it. I have picked up a lot about photoshop, as this was my first proper time using it so I was new to it. I have found it quite easy to achieve some of the styles I wanted on my magazine, because I have been using it for a while, I know more shortcuts and easier ways to do certain things.

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

When deciding who to get to publish your magazine, there are a few things to consider. If you go with a big company like IPC media, you may end up losing 'editorial independance' as they would be more interested in profits, but would be able to reach a larger target audience. If deciding to be an independent publisher, you would have complete control about what goes into your magazine, and wouldn't have to worry about having loads of advertisements in your magazine. I think I would choose future plc to publish my magazine, as my magazine may be a niche market and would introduce a new target audience for future plc.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience is mainly 'ravers', these are the people that tend to go to clubs, raves or free parties and most look as if they're rather aggressive or 'chavs'. The age group for these kind of people would be roughly '17-30', depending on the sort of event that they are going to. They tend to wear baggy jeans or sports brand joggers, and maybe some sports brand shirt or jumper, with a buzz cut hairstyle, dreadlocks, or medium-long hair. The music they would listen to be is all sub-genres of trance, electro, D'n'B, and generally anything with nice bass, which is everything that my magazine is about. My target audience may not have a specific TV program that they favor, as they are usually out with their mates or at parties.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine is aimed at ravers, clubbers, and party-goers. Those who enjoy their bass loud, and flashy, strobe lights. The house style for my magazine is purple, black and white, which I find represents my target audience due to the feel of it being in a nightclub, or being out in the dark raving. The types of music and artists in my magazine are all to do with the rave culture, with DJ's and artists that are well known throughout the scene. I feel that my magazine represents my target audience rather well, as my advertisement mood board also links in with what my target audience would be interested in.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My magazine cover is pretty conventional; the masthead is placed at the top and is in a big font, so that people can see that this is the name of the magazine. The real magazine on the right has a picture of Calvin Harris taking up most of the space on the cover, for mine, I used a picture of my friend and re sized it so that it takes up most of the space. My main cover line, which is associated with the picture of the magazine, is the biggest of all story lines to show that it is the featured article in the magazine. My magazine features a promise on the cover of the magazine, which includes a free CD that the consumer gets with the purchase. The barcode can be found in the bottom right hand corner where it is placed to not get in the way of the cover picture or in the way of any cover lines.

My contents page is conventional, and also follows the purple, black and white house style, and uses the same fonts as the cover of the magazine. 3 pictures are placed on the right side of the magazine which is associated to stories in the magazine; the biggest picture is also associated with the main cover line. The contents page allows the readers to see what else is included in the magazine, and has page numbers next to them to show what page it is on.

My double page spread follows the house style of the magazine again. It is split up into 4 columns where text is placed that make it easier to read. The picture takes up the whole double page, but the text is wrapped around his head so that they do not get in the way of each other. A drop cap is placed at the beginning of the interview, and a pull quote is placed at the bottom of the third column. The text the interviewer asked is in purple, and the answers given are in white, to allow readers to easily see who said what. My article follows the basic conventions of double page spreads.

Target audience mood board

My target audience are people who enjoy to go to clubs/raves regularly and usually go to festivals, as the type of music my magazine will include are ones usually played at those venues.

Mixmag case study.

Open publication - Free publishing - More case study

Colour mood board

I have chose these colours because they will appeal to my target audience, who go to clubs, or raves and will enjoy the bright colors in contrast with black and/or white. I liked the idea of having 2 bright colors with either white or black, or both white and black with one bright color.

Advertisements mood board

My target audience is mainly males between the ages of 16-25, so consequently they will enjoy technology; as such Samsung, Panasonic and Canon are here. For those who are 18+, they will enjoy Smirnoff and Budweiser. Also my target audience may go to festivals, such as Tomorrowland, or clubs, such as Godskitchen.

Font mood board

This is my font mood board. I chose these fonts because I thought these would be fitting for the style of my magazine. The futuristic look of the fonts will match the futuristic/electronic style of the magazine I intend to make. I intend to use these fonts for my masthead, so I need to pick one that stands out and has a strong font.

For my magazine cover, I will use the “Dream” font as it quite strong and will fit in with the style of my magazine, and stand out on the front of my magazine cover.

Preliminary task contents page

Preliminary task front cover

Questionairre and answers

 We conducted a student survey before attempting to produce a college magazine. We made a questionnaire to find out what people wanted in the college magazine. We found that 50% of the people we asked were male, and 50% were female. 

When asked if people read the current college magazine, we found that 90% did not; this shows that the current magazine does not work and does not reach out to the college’s students. 

We asked them what they would like to appear in the magazine, the majority of people said they wanted fashion, music, job advice, events and sports related news in the magazine.

60% of the people we asked said they wanted the magazine to be published every month.

We asked if they would be willing to pay for the magazine, 60% said they wouldn’t, but as 40% would, this means if the magazine can reach more of the target audience, we may be able to put a small fee on the magazine.

40% of the people we asked said they would be prepared to contribute to the magazine.

When asked what they would like to see featured on the magazine cover, the majority told us they would want images, bright colours and a bold title.

The colours that the majority would like to have on the cover were red, blue, pink, purple and white.

College magazine questionnaire

Questionnaire!

1.  Are you male of female?

2. Do you read the college magazine?

3. List the three things you would like to see in the college magazine.
    -
    -
    -

4. How often would you like the college magazine published?
 Fortnight -            Monthly -            Half term -           Term -

5. Would you be willing to pay for a college magazine?
     If so how much?

6. Would you be prepared to contribute to the college magazine?

7. What features on the cover would attract you to the magazine?

8. What colors do you think would attract students to read the magazine?

College magazine cover analysis

Masthead: The masthead is located at the top in a big bold font so that it stands out and people know that it is the magazines name. The color of the title and the shirt are the same to show that it is linked with the college. 

Image: The image is in the middle of the cover, and takes up a lot of the magazine. The image is colorful as it is for college students, so a nice colorful, bright magazine would attract their attention to the magazine.

Colors: There are 3 colors used in this magazine; red, black and blue. The red is used in the masthead so that it stands out from the other text on the magazine. The blue and black are mixed between the stories in the magazine and a small description of the story. The image has a lot of colors as well, but her shirt is also red, so it may link with the college of the magazine.

Other: The bar code is tucked away in the bottom right corner to keep it out of the way of the image and stories. The date is printed small so that it doesn’t take up much space and is placed under the masthead, so that people know when this magazine was issued.