The media institutions that might distribute my indie rock magazine are Bauer Media Group, Jann S. Wenner, Team Rock, Freeway Press, and Buzz Media. Bauer and Jann S. Wenner could be good fits as they already distribute similar magazines like Q and Rolling Stone that target audiences that align with my target demographic of 16-25 year olds. Team Rock could benefit from capturing a younger audience. Freeway Press and Buzz Media could see increased sales and audiences from a new magazine in a similar genre as their publications. Distributing with these institutions could help expand the reach and success of my new magazine.

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

2. My Media Product

3. Media Institutions Introduction
• A media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved with mass media
enterprises- with magazines, a media institution would distribute different brands/companies of
magazine to their target audiences.
• The media institutions that might distribute my magazine are the following: Bauer Media Group,
Jann S. Wenner, Team Rock, Freeway Press and Buzz Media.
• Some of these institutions distribute products similar to mine so they may be interested in my
media product as it would be accessible to the existing institutions’ audience.
• Some of these institutions distribute different products to mine- this way my product would stand
out and widen the institutions’ audience (otherwise my media product would be too much like a
product already in the portfolio of the institution).

4. Bauer Media Group
• Bauer is a European based publisher that owns the rights to more than 400 digital products, 50 radio
stations and 600 magazines- including Kerrang and Q Magazine (has a British and European audience).
• I based my magazine predominantly on the style of Q magazine (the front cover and contents page)- Bauer
could be a potential distributor of my media product as they own the rights to Q (these magazines are
similar, meaning the experience of a very similar target audience could be exploited through my production).
• Q magazine is the UK’s number one purchased magazine- my magazine as a product made in the UK would
sell well with this distributor, as it has a similar target audience to Q magazine(mine is 16-25 year olds and Q
is most popular with the ages 15-24). My target audience is aimed at both genders of mostly middle class-
68.3% of the Q readers are male and 70% are middle class (see target audience research).
• Both my product and Bauer as an institution could benefit from this-mine because of the audience Bauer
already receives and the name that they have established for themselves that would be associated with my
product, and Bauer Media Group would benefit as my magazine is a new product and could potentially bring
in a different/ broader target audience for the institution- the institutes main products such as Q and
Kerrang end to be more targeted at females (my target audience includes both genders). This would mean
that Bauer’s fan-base and total audience would increase so their brand could become even more influential.
• Bauer has a multi-platform ownership so could release my product more efficiently- this would bring the
product even more into the audiences’ mind.

5. Jann S. Wenner
• Jann Simon Wenner is the co-founder and publisher of the popular culture biweekly magazine
Rolling Stone, and current owner of Men's Journal magazine.
• As I have based my magazine partly on Rolling Stones (the double page spread in particular), it
would make sense to research the institute that distributes this brand. This publisher could be a
potential distributor of my media product as they own the rights to Rolling Stone (this magazines is
similar to my own, meaning the experience of a very similar target audience could be exploited
through my production).
• The majority of Rolling Stones readers are young (between the ages of 18-24) and male (at 62.6%)-
this would suit my target audience as it is similar. However, my target audience would be more
focused on women than this- this could benefit the distributor as it could bring in a slightly different
target audience. This would mean that their fan-base and total audience would increase- their
brand could become even more influential.
• Rolling Stones has a mostly American target audience as this is where is it mostly distributed. If I got
my product distributed by this publisher, my product would be accessible to America as well as the
UK- this would make my product broader and therefore it could be considered more successful.

6. Team Rock
• Team Rock owns the publications of Metal Hammer and Prog Magazine but is best known for publishing
Classic Rock Magazine.
• My genre of magazine is indie rock so my magazine would fit in with the rock genre but also stand out
(due to the indie element)- this could be beneficial to my product as the audience would be interested
and intrigued by the genre of my media product- therefore it would be more likely to sell and become
successful.
• The target audiences for the main magazines that Team Rock distributes are generally older (30-50 year
olds) than my target audience (16-25 year olds)- this could be beneficial to the distributor as they are
currently missing out on a potentially vast audience/generation- so by distributing my product the
company would be able to access younger people.
• By capturing the attention of younger people, the audience would be more likely to keep being involved
with this institution for longer/more years to come- Team Rock as a company would know how to obtain
loyal consumers and keep this fan-base.
• Distributing my media product would also have the likely impact of increasing Team Rocks’ total audience
numbers- this would allow them to compete against more well-known companies, such as Bauer.

7. Freeway Press
• This publishers’ most successful magazine is Rock Sound- this magazine focuses on
forms of rock including emo, punk and metal- this would make the company an ideal
distributor as my magazine is of the indie rock genre.
• This means that the company’s products and mine are similar-styled and would
therefore have similar existing demographics in our target audiences- the institution
would be experienced in distributing products similar to mine so my product may
have the potential to become successful.
• However, the circulation and therefore the popularity of Rock Sound has been in
decline for the last 8 years (excluding 2015 which rose less than 500 sales).
• This means that my product could potentially be beneficial to this institution as it
could act as a re-vamp of their existing products. This would work well as my genre of
magazine is similar to Rock Sound so their target audience would therefore be similar
to mine- so the company would not lose their identity as a publisher but could have
the potential to raise sales (and therefore be more successful) with a new product of
a similar genre.

8. Buzz Media
• Buzz media is best known for Spin Magazine- a product based on many
different genres of music including hip-hop, rock, country etc.
• Buzz Media is a purely online conglomerate- it stopped running/printed
publications in 2012- now it only distributes ‘webzines’. This could be
beneficial to my media product as my magazine is new so might not have
enough funding for printing a hard-copy.
• However, getting a printed copy from this institution would offer a way back
into this print market- this would be beneficial to the conglomerate as it
would act as a competitor to other print publishers which could draw a
vaster audience to Buzz Media (meaning the magazine would sell
increasingly and become more successful).
• Being an online-exclusive magazine is limiting to their audience as the
availability is only on one platform- this would mean that their influence over
the total audience is not as large as it could be.
• Spin in particular has an unclear, inconsistent genre- my media product could
bring in a vaster and more loyal audience due to its more concentrated genre
of indie rock- the institute would make a more consistent income.