Evaluation Question 3

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

From this research I have discovered that Bauer Media is a large, well-known company that operates in magazine and radio, which makes it appropriate for publishing my magazine. If a large company like this publishes it, it suggests people will give it the benefit of the doubt and purchase it because they know a large company has invested in it and therefore believes it is as good as their current magazines (kerrang and Q). Decode magazine will also be on the same level as these magazines because they have the same publisher and so will have a high reputation. Furthermore, Bauer media has over 80 different media brands so if Decode magazine is unsucessful, the business will not suffer from a loss as it has other brands it can fall back on if necessary.

IPC media is one of the UK's leading consumer magazine publishers which makes it appropriate because it operates within the country which is where Decode magazine will be primarily sold. As with Bauer media, IPC has many brands and so should not be at a disadvantage if Decode magazine was unsuccessful. In addition, the publisher owns NME music magazine and so is already associated with music magazines. From research I discovered that IPC's target audience includes two thirds of UK women which is appropriate as the target for my magazine is 15-25 year old females. However, this publisher may be inappropriate as it mainly publishes hobby and lifestyle magazines and therefore Decode would be associated with this.

Conde Nast is also a large publishing company and so will benefit Decode magazine as the business is doing well financially and has a good reputation which will encourage potential customers to buy the new magazines they publish. However, Conde Nast predominantly publishes lifestyle and fashion magazines and so it is unclear if a music magazine would be successful if published by this company. Furthermore, Conde Nast is a worldwide business while the target market for my magazine is in the UK which suggests this is not the ideal business as it will not sell if introduced to other countries as they are not the correct target market. As Conde Nast is a worldwide business it would probably not be interesting in a product that is aimed at quite a small market.

Overall, I believe the best suited company to publish Decode magazine would be Bauer Media because it has the most experience in music magazines and is based in the UK so will be interested in magazine with a UK target market. Furthermore, Bauer Media is a large company and has a high reputation which will encourage people to buy their products; Decode magazine will have high expectations as it will automatically be associated with Q and Kerrang magazines.