3. What kind of media institution might

distribute your media product and why?

Media Institutions The distribution of the magazine is just as vital as the production, if the magazines don’t get distributed

well, the magazine obviously won’t be successful. This means the correct media institution has to be chosen. There are lots of things to be taken into consideration for example lateral and vertical integration. For example, do the media institutions have elements of other types of media, BBC have TV and distribute magazines. This increases their intertexutlaity as they focus of many different areas of the media, increasing their promotion, this all effects the sales of the magazines. If the distribution companies have different interests and are involved with aspects of music as well, this will help the magazine due to gifts and helpful deals increasing interest.

There are four main media institutions, these are Baur Media Group, BBC Magazines, Development Hell LDT and IPC Media. As I said, the distribution is vital, so in order to know which one would be most suitable for my magazine, I had to research these four to make a final conclusion.

 

Bauer Media Group Bauer Media Group is a multinational media group company with its headquarters in Germany,

although operates worldwide.  It’s a massive organisation with worldwide circulation of the magazines adding up to 38 million magazines a week.

The institution also has a 50% stake in the British telephone company Box Television and 4 Music. These produce several music channels that are popular across the board including, Q TV, 4Music, Kiss TV, Kerrang! TV and SmashHits! TV. This provides evidence to show that they have vertical integration because they produce music TV channels. This provides them with the power and opportunity to promote the music magazines also because they’re already producing media aimed at the demographic, especially with channels such as Kerrang and Q that are like the genre I’m aiming my magazine at. Bauer’s media brand also include Q and Kerrang! Showing the speciality in music magazines near my genre.

BBC MagazinesBBC are obviously a well known worldwide institution that once again has vertical and lateral integration

meaning a far bigger distribution base. They are well known for TV, having many key channels but also for radio, reflecting back to music once more. The bigger broadcast companies are more successful than niche due to having more power and connections.

However, BBC have been seen to produce mainly pop magazines such as ‘It’s Hot’ and ‘Top of The Pops’. When I was researching, I discovered that these weren’t as popular anymore. This could affect the overall distribution of the magazines.

Development Hell LTDDevelopment Hell Limited is an independent media company based in Islington, London. Unlike Buaur,

this is a smaller company, although they’re known for publishing ‘The Word’ and ‘MixMag’. These are from a smaller niche company in comparison to others as they’re genres that sway more towards the niche market. For example, ‘MixMag’ is a dance and clubbing magazine, where as ‘The Word’ is an art and entertainment based magazine.

However, there is once more lateral and vertical integrations as they acquired DontStayIn.com, the worlds biggest clubbing social network, that meant they could gain more promotion and interest on this.

Respected operators are also involved in the distribution, for example, director of Q and SmashHits, David Hepworth, so although they may not distribute the most broadcast magazines, they have good experience and knowledge on board.

IPC MediaIPC are the parent company of Time Inc. and is a digital publisher in the UK selling over 350 million copies each year. IPC’s diverse print and digital portfolio focuses on three core audiences, men, mass market women and upmarket women. They publish ‘Connect’, ‘Southbank’ for upmarket women and ‘Inspire’ being aimed at men. This shows the female/male gaze that they will find ways to aim it at each of them using different techniques to reach to the demographic.

By being part of Time Warner, this automatically establishes IPC as a main distribution company as Time Warner is a massive distribution company. It’s evident that Time Warner buy into the smaller niche companies to create overall dominance and lateral integration across distribution.

Overall..After analysing all the possibilities, I’ve come to the conclusion that the media institution I would use would be Baur Media Group. Firstly, they are a well established distribution group and have a good record of selling magazines. They have evidence of lateral and vertical integration meaning more ways to promote my magazine for example, on the many music channels as this would be able to hit most of my demographic quickly and easily. Due to my magazine being a broadcast magazine I thought it would be sensible to go with a large distribution company due to them having power and control. Finally, they also have experience with large well established music magazines so have experience in the market for my magazine so it would be in good hands. For example, BBC Magazines are often seen as a more ‘mature’ company and hit the adult demographic rather than the younger demographic.