Bauer

Bauer is responsible for the publication of around 150 magazines in the UK, including Kerrang, Mojo and Take a Break. They make both niche and mainstream magazines. For example. 'eat in' is a magzine based on one topic which is food and cooking, and 'Take a Break' is a mainstream magazine about celebrities and current affairs. Some of the other magazines they publish are:

• Bella


• Spirit & Destiny


• TV choice


• Take a Break Puzzle Magazine


• that's life
  

The target audience of their magazines are usually women and teens. It is unlikely that a man aged 40 would buy Spirit & Destiny on a regular basis, whereas a woman aged 40 is more likely to. Bauer also have ownership of 40 radio stations. These include

• Kiss FM


• Magic


• North West Radio


• Kerrang Radio

And a few Music Television channels including:

• 4 music


• The box


• Hits


• Kerrang

Their brand image is...

IPC

IPC media plays a major part within the British publishing world. They also produce both niche and mainstream magazines, but mostly mainstream. For example they have magazines on weddings and gardening and tV, as well as ones on general life & current affairs. They publish around 80 magazines, some of them being:

• Marie Claire


• Loaded


• What's on Tv
  
• In style


• Ideal home
  
• Now


• Nuts


• Rugby world


• Look

The target audience for their magazines are mixed both men and women, and probably ranging from the age of about 16 for certain magazines such as Now and Look. Over 44% of men and nearly 2 in every 3 read an IPC magazine. One of IPC's digital properties is NME which is the third largest commercial website in the UK.

BBC magazines

BBC produce many magazines as well as TV stations and Radio stations. They produce niche magazines which fall under specific catergories such as:

• Childrens


• Food


• Home & Garden


• History


• Music


• Puzzles


• Motoring


• Science & Nature


• TV


• Sports

They have a mixture of target audiences because they have so many different catergories of magazine. For example, they have magazines about Gardening and food which will generally be meant for women and magazines about motoring and sports which will be mostly aimed at men. however, BBC do not produce many childrens magazines. They own 12 BBc Radio stations:

• BBC Radio 1-7


• BBC 1XTRA


• BBC Radio


• BBC Radio Nations & Local


• BBc World Service

BBC also own many TV channels, and are one of the leading publishing companies in the UK. They are key players in magazine publishing, as well as on TV and on the Radio.

Magazine Covers

When publishing a magazine, the editors main consern is what's on the cover. Editors spend 50% of their time worrying about what is on the cover of the magazine. The front cover is so important to them because it is the first thing that the readers see. It determines how good it is and what is inside it; it is what sells the magazine. The cover has to draw in the target audience and make them want to buy it.

The editor makes sure that Kerrang ! cover appeals to the whole of it's readership by covering four or five different types of music such as rock, pop, indie and punk. The magazine is aimed at teenagers from the sges of about 13-18. Four times a year Kerrang! have a cover-mounted CD, which is a free CD on the front cover. This is part of a promotional offer followed by posters, stickers and calindars in the next issues. These rapidly increase sales and more people are likely to buy it. A cover-mounted CD can not be on every issue because from then it will always be expected and sales will not rise, they will just stay at a constant level. They are also very expensive and time consuming. Mixmag features a CD on their issues and this does not help sales.

The two most important areas on a magazine front cover are the Logo (title) and the sweet spot at the side of the page. Well established magazines such as Cosmopolitan or HFM do not need to show their titles as much because it is easy to spot the magazine without seeing the full title. Most magazines to their best to ensure that their front covers are reassuring, but different.

Denotation, Conotation 2

HFM magazine

• Her head is placed over the last letter in the magazine title: This shows her importance and makes her stand out on the cover of the magazine.
• Jennifer is wearing a blue bikini: The bikini suggests that Jennifer Lopez is on a beach, or enjoying hot weather somewhere. The bikini allows lots of skin to be shown, which is appealing to the target audience. This image shows her as more of a sex icon than the sexy diva look that was portrayed in the previous magazine covers.
• She is facing the camera and slightly pouting: This shows that she has confidence within herself as a person. The pouting could suggest that she knows that she is sexy and she is flaunting- again this suggests confidence.
• She is kneeling, leaning her body to one side, using one hand to support her weight and the other is on her hip: Leaning to the side shows off Jennifer's curvacious body. The hand on the hip again suggests confidence and stability. This could also represent a fierce attitude.
• She is on sand: This shows us that she is on the beach, which relates to her costume of a bikini.
• Mid-shot: Shows the majority of her body. It helps the magazines to draw readers in.

People Magazine

• Her head is positioned below the title, only covering the last few letters: This shows that she has importance over the magazine, but maybe not too much as you can still make put the name of the magazine pretty well.
• She is holdong two babies in her arms: This shows us that she has had kids and is happy for them to be shown in the media.
• She is looking forward and directly focusing on the camera and smiling: The smile suggests warmth and happiness- not only towards the babies, but towards the audience aswell. The direct focus on the camera shows she can be confident as a mother, and also as a sexy diva.
• Her hair is tied up: This goes with the mother' look. Its stereotypical that mothers tie their hair up and this is the way she is portrayed in 'People Magazine'. In th other images, her hair has been down and flowy which suggests freeness. However, this is not the way we look at her in this image. She still looks glamorous, but just more neat and tidy.
• A close up: It enables us to see her face and also her two babies clearly.
• She is wearing a beige sparkly dress: Beige is a very spohisticated colour- this shows maturity. The dress is not as revealing as the others butis still very fashionable. This makes her seem like a very glamorous mum.

InStyle Magazine

• Jeniffer's head is infront of the title: This makes her stand out and emphasises her importance over the title of the magazine.


• She stands to the side with her hand on her hip: She is standing to the side because if she were to face the front, it would give off a much fiercer impression of her. We can also see her curvacious figure which is good for a fashion magazine- it is appealing to the audience.


• It is a mid-shot: Shows her body.


• The colour choice is red, white and black: There is a set colour scheme. Lopez is wearing a black and white dress and has red lipstick on. These are very bold, forceful and sophisticated colours. The text is white against a red background.


• Her hair is tightly pulled back. She looks a little smug: This makes her look like a very sophisticated woman with lots of power and control.

Cosmopolitan Magazine:

• Jennifers head is infront of the title: This shows her importance over the magazine title. It's as if the magazine is showing off or giving off the impression you do not even need to see the name of the magazine.


• She is wearing a red and yellow dress: The colours of the dress (red and yellow), could be representing her firey attitude. Red is also seen as a loving, warm; sexy colour. The dress is strappy and low cut, this is to show skin so that the front cover will draw the audience in and make them want to buy Cosmopolitan. She looks Diva-ish.


• She is facing directly to the front. Her mouth is slightly open: This makes her look confident; she connects better with the audience by directly facing the front. Her face has a 'sexy look' on it. It also helps to see the style of the dress better.


• Her hair is flowy and wild: This adds to the sexy impression that she is implying. Her hair looks wild and free. Her hair brings out the style of the dress more.


• She is standing directly infront of the camera with her hands on her thigh: The way she is positioned shows confidence and stability. Her hand is placed on her thigh whilst holding up her dress at the same time to show her lower thigh.


• Mid-shot: Shows her body and body language.


• The colours used are red, yellow and orange: All these colours could be seen to represent fire. This could be in relation to her atttitude, hair style and body language. The chosen colours are also a good match for he tanned skin tone.