Case study of the institution Time Inc.

1. Time Inc: Case Study
By Lauren Walsh

2. What texts they own
25 Beautiful Homes
Amateur Gardening
Amateur Photographer
Angler’s Mail
Chat
Coastal Living
Cooking Light
Country Homes & Interiors
Country Life
Cozi
Cycling Weekly
Decanter
Housetohome
Ideal Home
Instant
InStyle
International Boat Industry (IBI)
Life
Livingetc
Look
Marie Claire UK
Money
Motor Boat & Yachting
Mountain Bike Rider (MBR)
Sporting Gun
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated Kids
Sports Illustrated Play
Style at Home
StyleWatch
Sunset
Superyacht Business
SuperYacht World
The Drive
The Field
Time
xoJane
Yachting Monthly
Yachting World
YBW.com

3. What Music genres they specialise in
The music magazine that Time Inc own is NME and the music genres within this
magazine include:
Indie
Rock
Alternative
Punk rock

4. What Platforms they operate on
Digital, mobile, print, social, tablet, video and television

5. What Cross-Media Promotion They Do
In the magazine NME there is a page advert promoting the new NME daily app. This
is an example of cross-media promotion. Furthermore, The NME magazine also
promotes NME tickets that are available for the readers to buy to see gigs, festivals,
comedy and more.
Time Inc promote their products via print such as inserts within magazines they own
promoting another magazine they own cross promoting their magazines and
billboards.

6. Who their main audience is
Due to the wide genres of magazines that Time Inc produce their target audience varies massively. For example, 3 in 4 of their
print readers are the main household shopper and 60% of women in the UK are interested in the print brands they produce. This
shows that some of the magazines they produce such as ‘Health’, ‘MyRecipes’, ‘Marie Claire’, and ‘Ideal home’ are targeted at
women from the age range of 25-40. Time Inc also produce fashion and gossip magazines such as ‘InStyle’, ‘Look, ‘Pick Me Up!’,
and ‘Chat’ This shows that again Times Inc has a target audience of women between the ages of 20-30. In fact, Time Inc own the
magazine's ‘Women’, ‘Women’s Weekly’, ‘Women&home’, and ‘Women’s Own’ which are all clearly targeted at women.
Although, their main target audience is women, Time Inc also produce the music magazine ‘NME’ which has a range of target
audiences due to the range of music genres within the magazine. The target audience for this magazine can therefore range from a
young teenager interested in Indie to older men in their 50’s interested in rock music.
In addition, Time Inc also own numerous amounts of magazines that are targeted at males. Some of these magazines include
‘Motor Boat & Yachting’, ‘Mountain Bike Rider’, and ‘Golf Monthly’ The ‘Golf Monthly’ magazine is expected to target men over
50 that are retired whereas the ‘Mountain Bike Rider’ magazine is targeted at younger males between the ages of 20-40.
Lastly, Time Inc also own ‘Time For Kids’ and ‘Sports Illustrated Kids’ which shows that a small amount of the magazines they
own are targeted at children.
Overall, I think that the main target audience of Time Inc is women between the ages of 30-50

7. How they meet the four needs of their audience group
Social Interaction
Promotes festivals and gigs which which would
include social interaction whilst attending
these events
NME has a page about the NME app which
encourages social interaction
NME have a facebook page for fans to interact on
Information
Information about festivals and gigs that are
upcoming and have been
In depth information about bands and their latest
singles
NME contains album reviews
Escapism
Adverts include alcohol which is used to make
people escape reality
Information about bands may help the readers
to escape their own life
Entertainment
Promotes upcoming gigs and festivals which is
a form of entertainment for the readers of
NME

8. Who advertises in their magazines and website
Website:
NME promote all the magazines they own on their
website to encourage people to buy them
resulting in a profit
NME (Magazine):
Front page is promoting the ‘Brent Is Back’ movie
Now TV
Sky Broadband
Vodafone
Muller (food)
Bulmers (drink)
Apple Iphone 6s
Three
Amazon

9. What ideology / lifestyle they promote
The magazines that they own that are targeted at women promote a healthy, stylish
lifestyle. Encouraging healthy eating and fitness along with promoting gossip and
helping their consumers keep on top of the latest fashion trends.
The magazines for men promote an active lifestyle through sports and fitness such as
football, mountain biking and golf. Furthermore, Time Inc also owns a few Yachting
magazines promoting the ideology of a rich, luxurious lifestyle.
The NME magazine that Time Inc own promotes a busy lifestyle and encourages the
readers to attend upcoming gigs and festivals. Due to the magazine being aimed at
people between the ages of 18-25 the adverts include alcohol which promotes a young,
unhealthy lifestyle and links to behaviour at festivals and gigs.

10. If / how the text fits into a larger institution
NME is one of the only music magazines Time Inc own. Therefore, I think that the
magazine of NME would also fit into the larger institution of Bauer which is the
company that owns other music magazines such as Kerrang and Q.

11. How successful Time Inc are at meeting the needs of
their audience
The magazine NME has struggled to sell and is now can be read for free. This means
that anyone is able to read NME, however shows that this magazine does not create an
income for Time Inc. Due to this issue NME is includes many adverts that aid in its
production, this shows that although the magazine is not being bought making an
income it is generating money through the use of advertising. This advertising can
decrease the consumers experience however they may find some of the adverts
interesting such as alcohol adverts and promotions about upcoming gigs.
NME is successful in promoting music as it is full of information about festivals and
gigs that are upcoming and have just passed. It also covers in depth information about
up and coming bands that would interest the target audience.