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

Transcript: 

There are four main companies that form the oligopoly; these are IPC Media, Bauer Media, Condé Nast and National Magazine Company.

IPC Media (International Publishing Corporation) is a consumer magazine and a digital publisher in the UK, founded in 1958. It has a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. IPC Media publish a variety of magazines ranging from fashion, TV guides, music and many more. IPC Media distributes a teen magazine called ‘Teen Now’. Therefore I will not be using IPC Media to publish my magazine, this is because they already have a magazine brand that is targeted at my target audience and includes the same features. 

Bauer Media is a multinational media company; they operate in 15 countries worldwide. The company was founded in 1875. There are around 8700 employees at 15 locations in Europe, publishing over 282 magazines. Bauer Media publish Empire and Kerrang magazine which are two magazines brands with a big target audience and my magazine is aimed at only teenagers interested in the pop industry, therefore I won’t be using Bauer Media to publish my magazine.

Condé Nast is a worldwide publishing company founded in 1909 which distributes the most successful lifestyle magazines.  Vogue is a well known fashion magazine published by Condé Nast. I will not be using Condé Nast to publish my magazine as they have many competitors already therefore this will impact on my magazine as it will be hard for me to attract my target audience due to Condé Nast already having very successful magazine brands.

The National Magazine Company (Nat Mags) is a based in London; they are one of the largest diversified media companies which distribute magazines such as Elle and BAZAAR. Nat Mags don’t distribute any music magazines at the moment; this is why I have chosen for my magazine to be distributed by them. I have made this decision as I won’t have any competition whereas if I was to have my magazine distributed my IPC Media or Bauer I would have the competition with Teen Now, NME and Kerrang. I believe The National Magazine Company would like to distribute my magazine as they have not get distributed a music magazine, therefore I would be the first magazine to be distributed by them and they would want it to be a success.

In order for my magazine to be a success I will have to ensure that my magazine is marketed and advertised well as this will pay a big part of whether my magazine is a success. My marketing plan needs to be good; today’s generation revolves around social networking which means I will need to have a Facebook and Twitter account set up for my magazine. I believe that this is a good way of advertising my magazine as my target audience are always tweeting or making statuses. This insures that they are always up to date on the latest showbiz. I will also have an app for Smartphone’s such as iPhone’s and Blackberry’s, this will enable my target audience to read articles and check chart updates using their phones.

Finally I think by advertising my magazine on billboards and public transport is important when distributing my magazine as people will be able to see these and become familiar with the magazine. By having posters on billboards and on public transport attracts people’s attention and as my target audience is teenagers this is the ideal way of grabbing their attention as they use public transport everyday and we’ll see the magazine which attract potential readers.