What kind of media institution would distribute your

media product and why?

A media institution is an established, and often profit based, organisation that deals with the production, marketing, distribution, publishing and regulation of a media product. It helps in gathering information, and perceptions about different groups of people or their originality.

The four main media institutions within this specific segment of the media industry are:• BBC• Emap• IPC Media• Bauer

BBC Magazine is the magazine publishing arm of the BBC worldwide. It provides a variety of magazines that target a wide range of audiences. They focus their magazines on music, gardening, children's popular TV programmes, cooking, cars and astrology.

The music magazines that BBC have published in the past include magazines such as It’s Hot!, Top of the Pops and Classical Music Magazine.

Emap International Limited is a British media company, specialising in the production of business-to-business magazines, and the organisation of business events and conferences. This company has 20 current magazine that they distribute. In relation to music, they have only ever published/distributed one music magazine named Smash Hits which was widely recognised.

Bauer Media Group is a multinational media company headquartered in Hamburg, Germany which operates in 16 countries worldwide. Since the company was founded in 1875, it has been privately owned and under management by the Bauer family. It was formerly called Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG, abbreviated to HBV and usually shortened to H. Bauer. Worldwide circulation of Bauer Media Group's magazine titles amounts to 38 million magazines a week

To the left is an image which shows which magazines Bauer Media distributes and produces, as you can see there is many magazines, not all music, that would target my chosen target audience and some audiences that may be interested in my magazine also.

In terms of the audience that Bauer Media distributes to, it is extremely diverse. This is a key factor in the magazine industry as the aim of distributing the product is to get it to as many people as possible in order to make a huge profit. My magazine is aimed at a young audience and so may not be so popular in certain places, this means that the more diversity within my distribution the better. Also, Bauer tends to target the young audiences with their style of magazine and so when people notice that this is our distribution company it will draw in more attention as this target audience is who Bauer are known for working with.

Bauer Media has several different offices based in several different locations across the globe, making the distribution across a wide range of countries much easier.

Emap tend to target the more sophisticated and older audiences. This is because the companies main aim in distributing their magazines is to connect to more professional communities and inspire them. In relation to their magazines, there is almost no music magazines – with Smash Hits being the exception – and so this proves that their mass audience is an older target group of a higher standard.

BBC Magazines target audience are very diverse as they distribute magazines that tend to switch between age groups. This is normally a good thing as it means that the magazines reach other audiences which would not usually read certain types of magazines. For example, the Top of the Pops magazine is aimed at young teenage girls, similar to my magazine. However, they also produce Classic Magazine, which is aimed at a much older and more sophisticated audience.

After analyzing all of the media institutions thoroughly, I decided that both BBC Magazines and Bauer Media would be my chosen company when distributing my product.

This is because both companies are very well known globally which already helps to create a good reputation for my magazine immediately with the audience. Also, they both have a lot of experience with this process with their dominance and popularity. I think my magazine would fit in best with Bauer Media as they distribute a lot of similar genres, but I also think that distribution by a well known institution that does not usually work with this genre would be an advantage as there would be less competition within the company.

The one negative that would occur when working with Bauer Media would be the competition because of the mass amount of brands that the company works with – this could become a huge issue and so I believe that working with two companies that both have a global reputation and with one that does not withhold any competition in order to boost my magazines profits further.

In relation to the distribution of my magazine, I would want my product to become very accessible as not only does this give this audience more of a choice of how they wish to consume it, but it also increases the chance of a wider audience as a lot more people are introduced it.

The means that, because of proliferation and convergence within society, magazines of the current society are being consumed through portable devices as well as the traditional hard copy, which is why I would choose to also distribute my product in the following ways:

Although some people may prefer to read my magazine online or on any apps that offer that type of service, other people within my target audience may wish to buy a real copy of it. Because of this I have also decided that distributing my magazine to popular stores that are very easily accessibly and well known globally. In terms of choosing the stores, I would likely pick leading super markets as they are very well known and extremely popular with the public – this means that when my magazine is on display, it will catch the audience attention and appeal to a lot more people.