What kind of media institutions would distribute your media product and why?

As my magazine would be brand new to the market, it would be important that I chose a good distributor; one that could reach out to my target audience as well as giving my magazine a good reputation. In this presentation, I am going to look at two of the biggest distributors, IPC Media and Bauer, and explain for each why

they would be good distributors for my magazine.

IPC MediaWhy chose them?

IPC Media produces 60 media brands and has the ability to reach out to a wide audience. With magazines alone, they can reach out to almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men.

Many of the brands they distribute are well known (for example: NME, Country Life, What’s On TV etc.) therefore they would be a good company to get involved with. I have seen similarities between my own magazine and the magazines they distribute. For example, I can see a strong link between this copy of NME and my own magazine front cover (below) therefore I think my magazine could fit in well with the company. If they are able to sell a magazine like NME, which does bear some similarity to my own magazine, mine should be able to be distributed just as well. There aren’t many magazines in their range which are too similar to my own so I think it would be a good opportunity for me, as well as them, to get them on board because I would benefit form a major distributor and they would benefit from a new magazine genre which could help them to expand their market.

Problems?IPC Media doesn’t produce magazines too

similar to my own therefore it is possible that they willlack the necessary experience to deal with a genre ofmagazine like mine.

Bauer

Why choose them?Bauer Media offers over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, on TV and on

radio stations. As well as this, it distributes ‘Kerrang!’, which is a very similar genre of music magazine to my own, which is the world's biggest selling weekly music magazine therefore I assume that Bauer is doing something right in order to help make this possible.

As ‘Kerrang!’ is of a similar genre to my magazine, Bauer will already have the target audience ready and so my magazine could slot right in. Seeing as they have had experience of distributing magazines such as mine, I could be confident in the knowledge that my magazine would be distributed correctly.

Bauer Media is also a multi-platform UK-based media Group therefore once my brand of magazine became established, it could be possible for them to help me to launch into other areas, such as TV and radio, like ‘Kerrang!’ has done. I think that there could be a lot of potential for my magazine with a company like this.#

Problems?The one problem I do have is the fact that Bauer distributes ‘Kerrang!’ which is so popular

and has been around for quite some time and because it is a similar genre to my own magazine, they may always put ‘Kerrang!’ first and my magazine may not get the necessary attention and work put into it meaning it could fail.

To Conclude...Both distributors have advantages and disadvantages but overall, I think the best one to choose it Bauer. I know that there is always the risk my magazine could be moved to one side in favour of ‘Kerrang!’, but I think that if I worked closely with them, I could ensure that it wouldn’t happen.The reason I did not choose IPC Media was because I felt that they may lack experience and they have not distributed a magazine which is the top selling in the world unlike Bauer Media.

I CHOOSE...