Question 3 - What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?

Hello and welcome to my podcast where I will be explaining my reasons for choosing which publishing company I would choose for my magazine, Vibe, to be published by.

When deciding which company I was going to choose I realised there were many different factors to consider as each company offers something different, so I had to decide which would benefit my magazine the most. After much consideration I chose Bauer Media Group as my publishers.

Bauer Media is a division of the Bauer Media Group; Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of many companies collected around two main divisions – Magazines and Radio - widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators. Their strategy is to connect audiences with excellent content through their broad multi-touch point brand platforms, wherever and whenever and however they want. Their wide portfolio of influential brands gives us advantages over pure play magazine or radio competitors.

Today the Bauer Media Group is Europe's largest magazine publisher and a market leader with its titles, including the key markets of Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, Poland and the USA. The company has a presence in a total of 20 countries. In the 1980s the internationalisation of the media company began with Heinz Heinrich Bauer's expansion into the USA. In 1981 Woman's World was launched on the market there as the first weekly women's magazine – a best-seller of millions of copies even at its beginning. In the 1990s the publishing company successfully adapted to the beginning of digitalisation. The integration of printed and digital media steadily increased: the brand world of the people magazine launched in Great Britain in 2000, heat, naturally then includes the Internet portal heatworld.com and the broadcaster heat radio. 

I would use Bauer Media for my magazine as they are a conglomerate company who would make my magazine known throughout Europe, like they did for magazines such as ‘Q’ ‘Mojo’ and ‘Kerrang.’ I believe they have a gap for my magazine genre on the market as all these magazines have a more older and mature demographic, so there is space for my magazine. Bauer Media have pre-established systems for large scale distribution which would benefit my product as it would provide multiple points of exchange. Being the largest publishing company in Europe, they will have many connections within the industry which would mean they would get regular customers for my magazine and their high status would ensure that good quality products are provided.

In contrast to this ‘Mixmag’ have an independent publishing company, with their product aimed at a smaller audience. This type of company would not be suitable for my magazine as I have a large target market, who should have easy access to my product. I believe Bauer Media would be a better publishing company for my magazine as they have better brand recognition and have a space in the market for my product as they don’t publish any other pop magazines. In recent years there has been a massive expansion of technology so therefore I would like my magazine to be available on apps such as facebook and snapchat, as my demographic are the people that frequently use these sites and therefore it would be a good and useful way to promote the magazine so that they see it. I would also like a twitter page for my magazine so that my demographic can communicate with the magazine itself and get their ideas inside it and heard by the company. Another magazine I looked at was ‘DJ’ which is a self published and ran by Thurst. This company is so small it doesn’t even have a website, so therefore I would not choose this comoany as it wouldn’t get me the large target market that I’m after. Although DJ is quite a well known magazine, it is not as well-known as other brands such as ‘Q’ and I believe that they don’t have a space for my magazine as DJ’s demographic is too similar to my magazine.

To summarise this I would like to chose Bauer Media to publish and distribute my magazine as it is the largest publishing company in Europe and it has a gap for my genre. It will help get my product known and create Vibe its very own brand identity. Alongside this I would also like to use social networks such as facebook, twitter and snapchat in order to introduce the magazine to my demographic and attract them to become constant readers of my magazine.