Evaluation Q3

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

When planning which media institution to distribute my magazine, I was mainly aiming for the top distributors such as Seymour, Frontline and MarketForce. When researching I became aware that MarketForce, CoMag, Frontline and Seymour are the top 4 primary distributors in the UK. I was however, curious as to how they distribute their products. I found out that distributors like MarketForce and Comag are actually owned by other companies like IPC and National Magazines. On the other hand, Frontline is not actually owned by its clients which are BBC, Bauer etc but do not offer their services to any other publishers.
The chart below shows the market share of the top 4 distributors in the UK. As you can see Frontline seems to have the larger market share. This could be predictable knowing it has clients such as BBC, Bauer etc.

I preferably would want my magazine to be institutionally similar to VIBE magazine, as that is the magazine that I had the most inspiration from. I liked how the magazine presented itself and how it is very well distributed. The magazine is also a huge success too, so institutionally I'd follow the steps of VIBE magazine. VIBE is in partnership with Time Inc. This is a very successful distribution/publishing company as it publishes over 130 magazines. These include Time, Essence and Entertainment Weekly. It also owns the UK media house IPC, therefore can take credit for other magazines like Marie Claire, NME etc.

Spin Media would most likely distribute my product as it handles a large amount of pop culture, music and entertainment magazines from VIBE to Spin to Celebuzz. It also handles online blogs, accounts and websites of the magazines it owns which would be efficient for my magazine as I intend to have online websites as I have displayed on the contents page with Facebook and Twitter links. I feel that this distribution company would efficiently gather a larger audience for my magazine as it clearly has good experience doing so. It handles official websites of that of Kim Kardashian and Britney Spears therefore I would be able to trust this company to handle my magazine and its work, account and websites too.

Another media institution I think would distribute my product would be Bauer Media. This company says it 'reaches over 19 million adults every week' which I think is a great audience to even consider my magazine. I have also acquired the knowledge that Bauer Media handles a lot of popular, everyday brands ranging from magazines like Closer, to radio stations like KISS FM and channels like 4Music. This is clearly a very popular and successful media institution that could distribute my product creatively and of a high standard. My magazine incorporates a lot of general magazine conventions therefore I feel that Bauer Media would look into my product. I also have the unique selling point of targeting to two genres of music (Rap/Hip-hop) therefore I hope Bauer Media would see that and take that on board.