Evalutation Question 3 DRAFT

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

Bauer Media group

Originally a small printing house, The Bauer Publishing Group has grown into a worldwide publishing and media company. The Bauer Publishing Group comprises 282 magazines worldwide in 15 countries, as well as TV and radio stations.  

They produce women’s' magazines such as Bella and Take and Break, as well as Q and Kerrang! Two very well-known music magazines and i feel by adding State magazine into their mix they would benefit from the new music genre not previously developed in their other magazines.

Q Magazine was first published in 1986 and it has set itself apart from other magazines due to the higher standards of printing and photography, with an emphasis on style. After using Q magazine for inspiration, i have then developed the conventions found in the magazine to make mine individual.

Bauer Media also has a radio group, and has a 50% stake in Box Television. Channels of the company include 4Music, The box and Smash Hits, therefore by producing a magazine with less known bands inside, they could also link it with the radio and TV stations, playing new music for everyone to hear, as well as read about in my magazine.

I feel that Bauer Media Group would be an ideal institution to publish my magazine, as they are successful and have created two well-known and liked music magazines already, therefore they are trustworthy and people will find out about my magazine due to the publicity and from the fact the customers already enjoy their popular music magazines. Also, by publishing a newer and more indie magazine, the company are targeting more genres and therefore a larger audience, which would result in catering to everyone's likes. 

I am selling my magazine for £4.00 as it is monthly and of a high-end style in comparison to other weekly magazines such as Kerrang! I chose this price as I thought it was similar to other magazines of similar styles, such as Clash magazine and since it is a monthly magazine, and the readers are getting around 150 pages of content, it would be worth the money, and not a weekly payment. I also thought that 16-24 year olds would enjoy buying a monthly magazine for entertainment, using money acquired from their Saturday or even full/part time job. My Magazine could be sold in shops such as WH Smiths as it is a large store that most teenagers go to to buy magazines. Supermarkets such as Morrisons and Tesco, can also stock STATE magazine as they are also places in which magazines are often bought. 

Bauer Media Group also produce apps for Apple that allow the users to read and download a digital copy of the magazine, and this can also be suitable for STATE. Customers can pay for the magazine to read on their phone or tablet instead of carrying the magazine around, and digital multimedia elements like songs and videos can also be included to give the magazine another USP and make it more entertaining and different. The company also offers subscriptions to their magazines, in which the cost is reduced by a certain percentage. With the help of the media company, STATE magazine can set up it's own app so it can be downloaded to an iDevice and read.