1. •How do they differ in terms of target audience, style i.e Kerrang and NME and Smash Hits?
Identify the target audiences for a range of magazines using NRS? Be able to
demonstrate how codes and conventions vary in order to attract different target
groups.
Using NRS(National readership survey) I was able to see the target audiences for
different magazines and the age group that buy it the most weekly. The first magazine
I am looking at is ‘Kerrang’ they target mostly people that are in the middle and
upper class section ,this is because they can afford their magazines. By looking at the
table 169 people from a higher class bought their magazine. They had a high number
of sales when it came to the age group of 15-34 ,they sold 267 magazines. 186 copies
was bought by men whilst 156 copies were bought by women. Kerrang have their
own style of making their magazine suitable for all ages and for people that are not
even their target audience but their secondary audience.
2. Another music magazine that I researched was ‘Q’ which is a very popular magazine that is read
by loads of people. By looking at the table not a lot of people from a higher class purchased
their magazine ,this maybe because its more of a rock magazine which is targeted at a certain
group. There is a high number of people from the age of 15-34 who bought their magazines ,
figures were 233.People over 35 only 144 copies were bought. For men there is also a high
number ,which is 257 whilst women's was 120. Q magazine would obviously be read by loads of
people because R&B artists are on the cover and those artists have millions of fans that would
read their magazine. So ‘Q’ way of attracting audience is putting big stars as their front cover.
There is no statistics showing me the target audience for a magazine that is similar to mine , so I
am guessing not a lot of people read gospel magazines. This is because it is targeted to the
people that enjoy gospel music and love the artists that sing it.
3. How do they differ in terms of target audience and style?
From my research , it is evident that gospel music has different target
audience than R&B magazines. For example the two pictures on the left are
both music magazines but have different target audiences and their own way
of targeting them. Gospel magazines are mostly read by adults that are
religious and enjoy listening to calm music, however when it comes to R&B
anyone can read because there is no specific target audience because mostly
everyone reads it.
The first magazine ,the main image is of a bishop dressing sophisticated
,smart and has a friendly smile on his face . Some people may find it boring
because it will not appeal to them and what they are saying in the magazine
could cause conflict because some people are not religious. However when it
comes tot he second magazine its of a popular well known star ‘Nicki minaj ‘
everyone loves her ,everyone adores her ,so people would spend money on
buying the magazine just because of her facial expression her body
movement and what the cover lines says about her. But the gospel magazine
no one really knows the person in the main image so that will limit their
chance of making loads of money. Nicki minaj is posing in a way that will
attract men because there's a lot of cleavage showing , and that is what the
audience want.
The mast also is important , when we look at the gospel magazine the mast
head is not that amazing. It is simple and boring. However the R&B
magazines ‘s mast head looks creative and amazing. There target audiences
would be different . For example gospel magazines would target adults that
are probably over 25 and R&B magazine would target people from the age of
16+.
4. What is the name of the magazine that is similar to your target
audience?
The name of the magazine that is similar to my target audience would be ‘Gospel today’ but I would
also focus on younger people rather than older people. I chose to do this magazine because even if
it is unpopular and no one really reads it , I would like to re create my own version so it would be
suitable for everyone. Instead of me using older people , I would use younger people to pose for the
front cover. The colours may be boring since gospel magazine are not that exclusive like pop
magazines and R&B. The colours will be simple but I will make it seem like an interesting magazine
that people would want to read and not even notice its genre until they take a sneak peek out of it.
5. Who is their target audience? (age group/gender/interest group
Trying to find the target audience for gospel magazines ,was kind of difficult because NRS did not
have gospel magazines on their list which shows me the people that read it and the age group.
From my own research without using NRS I think people who are aged 15-34 and 35+ are the
people who would purchase the most copies. This is because they are adults and don’t know
anything about all these popular magazines such as Vibe, NME and etc. Gospel magazines would
target the upper/middle class people this is because their magazines may be expensive . For
example president Obama and one of his daughters was the main image for one of the gospel
magazines.
The cover lines that are used are not snappy and appealing to the younger generation ,so they
may not bother considering other age groups. From my research I think that gospel magazines
would be read equally by females and males. This is because sometimes there could be a male
person as the main image or a female ,but that doesn't really occur to their audiences ,they just
want to see what's in store for them in the magazine and what it has to offer.