Question 3- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Immediate media co and Bauer

About immediate media

Immediate media are the fourth largest magazine producer with 34 magazines. They cater for lots of different target audiences and have proven they can do this effectively with many other magazines. The sales of their magazine are a massive 76 million yearly and what is also appealing is the fact they receive 33 million views of their various websites each month. This means I could interact and engage with my magazines readers on a website and its possible immediate media could help me with social networking sites.

Music magazines they produce

Immediate media produce BBC music magazine (classical) and BBC Top of the pops magazine.

Reasons they would be good to distribute my magazine

They produce the radio times which is a really popular magazine that features what’s on the radio and TV that week. This is a good way I could promote my magazine as 60% of immediate media groups profit comes from the sale of the radio times. This suggests they sell a lot of copies so it would be great publicity for my magazine and help it generate the initial interest it needs to be successful.

Immediate media group have shown they can cater for lots of different audiences by providing a variety of different magazines. They sell magazines ranging from horrible histories to simply knitting which cater for

completely different age groups and target audiences. The two music magazines they produce are for different target audiences to mine

meaning the sales of each magazine will not be affected by a magazine produced by the same company. This would be disastrous for both the publisher and those in charge of producing the magazine. BBC music magazine appeals predominately to white, middle/upper class people who can be male or female. Immediate media group say their readership is 56% male and 44% female so not much between the two genders. They also says the average age of this magazine is 41 which I am slightly surprised at as I felt it would be slightly higher but nonetheless classical music can be listened to by people of all ages. The readership of BBC music magazine is 232,000 which is very impressive for a magazine that caters to the niche market. Top of the pops magazine suits a different target audience. Their core

audience is teenage girls who make up 85% of the readers. It is mainly intended for girls who are middle/upper class and white. This is a good reason why they could be good to produce my magazine because they have shown they can target girls with a pop magazine so could possibly help me target boys and girls.

They boast an impressive record of producing undoubtedly popular magazines with both their two music magazines having a readership over 200,000.

Reasons they would be bad to distribute my magazine

Arguably not as recognised around the world as Bauer but that may change over time because Bauer have been a company for longer than immediate media company. I want as much success as possible for my magazine and if possible I want music mayhem to be a recognised brand outside of England. This would be easier if I had a distributing company who are internationally recognised.

Immediate Media Company may not want to distribute another pop magazine as they may deem mine too similar to top of the pops magazine. I feel there are clear differences between the two and the target audiences are different. However they may not want to risk driving away readers of top of the pops magazine and them now becoming readers of music mayhem. They do not want to compete with themselves but I do believe that pop is such a large genre of music that these magazines cater for different types of fans of pop with mine targeting the singer songwriter pop rather than girl bands.

Immediate media group distribute around 34 magazines currently and this is an awful lot. I am unsure whether I would like my distributer to have fewer magazines on its books than that because otherwise my magazine may not be the priority. If there was ever a difficulty with distributing it I would want strong communication with them to tackle the problem but with so many magazines in their hands I question whether I would receive this.

About Bauer media

Bauer media produce several music magazines including Q and Mojo. Mojo is incredibly popular selling more copies than any other music magazine. This shows they have the ability to produce a magazine for a mass market. Bauer media focuses mainly on magazines and radio. The box is TV music channel that Bauer produce and that has been successful. They produce over 300 magazines in 15 countries. The also

produce Kiss FM which is another avenue I could possibly evaluate to help promote my magazine.

Music magazines they produce

Bauer currently produce Mojo and Q.

Reasons they would be good to distribute my magazine

They are one of the most successful media companies in the world which shows they have a great track record of producing successful magazines. This is impressive for me to look at and I hope my magazine can achieve as much success as some of the other magazines.

Bauer own 50% of a TV channel called the Box and Kiss Fm a radio station. These are really successful and generate a lot of income for them. These are the most famous examples of the radio and TV they produce but there are over fifty in total. This highlights the fact that Bauer are very skilled in different areas of media and could offer me advice if I wanted to produce a TV advert for example. It also could help considerably with publicity as Bauer could promote my magazine on one of their TV or radio channels and this could generate some extra revenue for me.

They are located in eleven different countries and have a strong workforce of around 11,000 employees. This will allow for me to promote in different countries and receive help from the different workers. Being able to communicate with my distributer will be very important for me so Bauer's employees should be able to give me any information I need.

Mojo and Q are the two music magazines they currently produce and they have different target audiences to who I am targeting. Mojo is incredibly successful as it is the UK's largest music magazine and is usually read by people who are extremely passionate about their music. Q is a rock and roll magazine and mainly appeals to people around 30-40 as it often focuses on older bands and older generations of music. I could offer Bauer something new and different to what they currently produce.

Reasons they would be bad to distribute my magazine

Like with immediate media group, Bauer produce lots of magazines however Bauer produces a lot more than immediate media group with over 600 magazines. Whilst this does show how trusted they are with the makers of many magazines, I would be worried that my magazine would not be the focus of their attention.

They are located predominately in Hamburg, Germany so communication with them could prove to be tricky. However they are also based in other countries meaning I wouldn’t necessarily have to travel to Germany to contact them. Who would be best to distribute my magazine? Immediate media group or Bauer?

It is a really difficult decision but I think Bauer would be the best. This is my opinion due to the other areas of media they are involved in which could be crucial in kick-starting my magazine and getting the initial interest it needs. A deciding factor in choosing Bauer was that I offer them a completely different magazine to what they produce and this means both me and them could get really excited about a

partnership. Immediate media group are a great magazine publisher but I do feel they may be slightly put off by top of the pops magazine being a little similar.