G321 Institution Research

1. Institution Research
Bauer Media Group
History:
Bauer Media group was originally founded in 1845. It was originally a small printing house in
Germany and has been managed by five generations of the Bauer family, the company came
to the UK in 1987 and became the countries 3rd largest publisher. The company then
purchased Emap in 2007 and inherited magazines such as Grazia and Heat, as well as a
number of radio stations including Kiss FM and Magic. The company now has two separate
branches; H Bauer Publishing and Bauer Media.
Titles:
Bauer Media Group publishes a number of different titles. H Bauer Publishing publishes
titles such as ‘Bella’ and ‘Take a Break’ whereas Bauer Media publishes titles such as ‘Q’ and
‘Kerrang!’ As you can see by the examples below, the magazines do not follow a similar
trend to one another and there is no house style shown within different titles.

2. Profits:
Bauer Media Group achieved revenue of 2.4 billion euros in 2013. However, profits have
been falling. The German publisher, which owns more than 20 titles in the UK including
Empire, Q and Zoo, saw pre-tax profits collapse by 75.7% from £57.3m to £13.9m in 2012.
Target Market:
There is no specific target market for Bauer Media’s publications because they have so many
different genres of magazine, however, there are some magazines, which are specifically
aimed at men or women. For example, ‘Zoo’ is aimed at men.
Future plc
History:
Chris Anderson founded future plc in 1985 under the name ‘Future Publishing’. It had one
magazine ‘Amstrad Action’. They were the first company to offer free software on magazine
covers. It was sold to Pearson PLC for £52.7 million in 1994, but Anderson bought it back in
1998 for £142 million.
Titles:
Future plc mainly focuses on technology and gaming genres. They publish titles such as
‘Playstation: The Official Magazine’ and ‘MacLife’. There appears to be a similar house style
across the different magazines, in terms of the layout on the cover.

3. Profits:
Future reported a £30.6m pre-tax loss in the six months to the end of March 2014, hit by a
£26m impairment charge on the value of its print asserts, as revenue fell 10.8% to £48.7m.
Target Market:
The target market of Future plc’s publishing’s is predominantly male, with the main genre of
their magazines being technology and gaming. For example, ‘Playstation: The Official
Magazine’ has a 90% male readership (http://brands.futureplc.com/brands/playstation-official-
magazine/). Even their Film and Music genre publications have a mostly male
readership, for example, ‘Guitar Techniques’; a magazine about teaching guitar has a 94%
male readership, even though guitar is a multi-gender instrument
(http://brands.futureplc.com/brands/guitar-techniques/).
Immediate Media Company
History:
Immediate Media Company Limited (styled as Immediate Media Co) is a combined
publishing house containing the former assets of Origin Publishing, Magicalia and BBC
Magazines. It was formed on 1 November 2011 and is owned by Exponent Private Equity.
Titles:
They publish a number of different BBC magazines including ‘BBC Focus’ and ‘BBC Music’.
They also publish ‘Top Gear’ and ‘Radio Times’. Every magazine has some sort of link to
another, for example ‘Top Gear’ is also a tv show, shown on the BBC, and ‘Radio Times’ is a
magazine that shows TV listings.

4. Profits:
The company made total revenues, excluding joint ventures, of £150.7m in the 12 months to
31 March 2014.
Target Market:
The primary target market of Immediate Media is definitely people who are interested in the
BBC. Whether it is a certain show that has a magazine, or purely the BBC’s own magazines
such as ‘BBC Focus’. Also, it would be anyone who is interested in television as most of their
publications have something to do with television.