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

A company which would produce and distribute my magazine is Conde Nast. This is because my magazine is a fashion magazine that is aimed at women with money to spend, and the magazines that Conde Nast produces are mainly aimed at rich, ‘well-off’ women. The women need to have money to spend otherwise they would not be able to buy the magazine on a regular basis. I think Conde Nast would publish my magazine because they already have a magazine similar to mine, however their magazine is aimed at women in their late 30’s, whereas my magazine is aimed at 18-24 year olds. This means that women of different ages will be buying from them instead of just one age group as a result they will make more money in the long run. In addition my target audience is rather large; therefore it would have a large advertising pull.

IPC Media would not produce my magazine because they already have many that are very comparable; besides their target audience is women and men in their late 20’s whereas my target audience is women aged 18-24. Bauer is yet another magazine publishing company which would not produce my magazine and this is because their target audience is 85% male and 15% female. My magazine is mainly aimed at females. To distribute my magazine with this company I would also have to put the price of my magazine down as Bauer is aimed at the lower class and mine is aimed at the upper class.

My magazine would be best positioned with a major publisher like Conde Nast because my magazine is more expensive and no money would be made if I could not sell enough. However an advantage of going with a small publishing company is that your almost certainly part of a smaller list so you’re less likely to be lost or overshadowed by many and bigger magazines. A disadvantage of going with a smaller company is that they may have less money, this means that not as much money is going into publishing my magazine as it would be in a big publishing company. A big publisher has a bigger pot of money and would not hesitate to spend on appropriate marketing and retailer promotions. A big publisher has a big infrastructure to maximise sales opportunities. A disadvantage of going with a big publishing company is that my magazine may have to be printed in particular formats. The costing on the basis of which they’re acquired probably has to achieve a particular profit and if I sell less than a certain number of copies they may have me taken out of print. 60% of magazines fail within the first year of publication and 2 in 10 magazines survive the first 4 years of publication.

I am aware that digital distribution is possible along with selling through subscription, and giving it away and relying on advertising revenue, however I am assured Conde Nast will publish my magazine and I will have an online version available.