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

2. What is a media institution?
A media institution is a non-profit organisation which regulates and distributes
advertising, entertainment and information services.
There are many media institutions in the UK, and some of these include:
Regulation
media institutions
TV media
institutions
Links to magazine institution websites:
Magazine Bauer: http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/
media Future PLC: http://www.futureplc.com/
institutions IPC Media: http://www.ipcmedia.com/
I will investigate these three institutions and
determine which distributor would be the most
appropriate for issuing my magazine.

3. Bauer, IPC Media & Future PLC
Bauer Media owns over 80 different magazines with varying genres.
These include magazines such as Closer, Heat, Kerrang!, Q, Horse
Deals, Garden News, Sea Angler, Practical Classics and more.
This institution already publishes one of the UK’s leading rock
magazines (Kerrang!) and therefore this would be a good publisher
to distribute my own magazine because they have plenty of
experience handling this particular genre of magazine. However, I
will have to investigate whether or not I would want to enter into a
publisher who already has such a well-known and liked magazine.
IPC Media owns many different magazines, and some of these include
Marie Claire, Horse and Hound, NME, In Style and Amateur Photographer.
This institution publishes only one major rock/indie magazine and
this is NME. This is a high-profile magazine which from my previous
research I have found brings in a wide audience. This publisher
would be particularly useful to distribute my own magazine because
IPC Media do not have a specific rock/alternative magazine in their
repertoire and so this would be an ideal way of entering the mass
market with a new product.
Future PLC publishes many magazines in the genres of
Games, Technology, Music, Movies and Active. These magazines include
Playstation: Official Magazine, Digital Camera, Metal Hammer and
Cycling Plus.
This institution has a fairly wide range of rock magazines that are
not as popular as the likes of Kerrang! and NME. These are Metal
Hammer, Classic Rock and Rhythm. These seem to cater to less of a
mass market than magazines distributed by the above publishers.
This would be a good way for me to enter a niche market.

4. How my magazine would fit into the
institutions’ portfolio
My magazine would fit alongside these other rock magazines from
various publishers (including Bauer Media) well because the codes and
conventions I have followed allow the audience to identify the genre of
the magazine.
The publishers I have already mentioned have a selection of rock
magazines within their repertoire which would allow ACID to become
part of an institution which already handles some form of
rock/alternative material. This means that the magazines would be

5. Comparing Portfolios
I have chosen IPC Media as the best publisher to distribute ACID magazine as they don’t have a specific
rock/alternative magazine already (other than NME which would be classed as rock/indie) and so would
be able to cater to the target audience better and I feel like more time would be able to be spent on my
magazine because the range of magazines isn’t as broad as that of Bauer Media.
These magazines look quite
similar and so my magazine
fits in nicely with the other
rock product that IPC Media
create. However, it is
different enough that the
general market would also
want to buy ACID magazine
and not just NME because
the genre is slightly different
as NME cater to artists such
as Lily Allen and Franz
Ferdinand which are
considered Indie Rock
whereas ACID feature
bands like Fall Out Boy and
You Me At Six
(Rock/Alternative).

6. Media In Other Areas
Many rock magazines and magazines in general have extended their products into other areas. This
is mainly things like online (so websites and forums) and radios/TV channels which show the music
that the magazines features 24 hours a day. This helps to keep the audience interested as the media
takes over young people (as these are the target audience). Things like QR Codes in my magazine
help to promote this as it links to the ACID website for extra content.
A radio station is a good way to promote the music that the
magazine has, so ACID RADIO would play artists like You Me At
Six and Fall Out Boy because these are specific to the target
RADIO audience. New music would also be played because the audience
enjoy hearing new bands.
This website would be extremely popular as young
ACIDRADIO.CO.UK people are more likely to go on the internet and enjoy
free content and so this would be a good media to
branch in to.