1. Unit 01 – AO5: Magazine Ownership and Distribution
Magazine Ownership
Total Film
Company
Total Film is published by Future Publishing (PLC)
It has offices in the UK in London and Bath – owns
the US company Future US and Future Australia.
They published over 150 magazines and over 40
websites.
They have a contract publishing division Future
Plus, but magazines and websites is there main
source of revenue.
Structure
Head of offices in Bath
Satellite offices in San Francisco, London, Sydney
The company is divided up in terms of types of magazines:
Technology
Computing
Games
Film
Music
Future Women
Photography
Creative & Design
Sport
Auto
Handpicked Future
Little White Lies
Company
Little White Lies is published by Church of London, a privately
owned company.
Their offices are in East London.
They currently published two magazines – LWL and Huck.
Other revenue sources include graphic design, marketing,

2. contract publishing and event management.
Structure
Church of London is split up into 3 Magazine teams
Little White Lies
Huck
Contract publishing – creating bespoke magazines for companies
Design Agency
Creating posters, brochures and prospectuses
Event Organiser
Organising specific movie events and festivals.
Sight and Sound
Company
Sight and Sound is published by the British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a charitable organisation
established by Royal Charter to promote British film and
TV, use it as a record in terms of contemporary society
and promote its education.
BFI is a non-profit organisation.
Structure
BFI
BFIʼs headquarters are on the Southbank in London
Within the BFI there are teams working on the following.
The London IMAX cinema
The London Film Festival
BFI Education – Events and Publishing
BFI Archive
BFI – Production, UK Film documentaries.
Distribution
Total Film
Physical Distribution
13 issues a year
Available UK wide at: supermarkets, newsagents at £3.90
Subscriptions - £25.99 from official Future site (37.99 from

3. Myfavouritemagazines.co.uk)
ABC 78,000
Digital Distribution
iPhone App launched Aug 2010 - £1.49
Interactive iPad edition launched June 2012
PDF Newstand version – subs £27.99
Zinio and Lekiosk
Analysis
Total Film is a mainstream film magazine designed
to appeal to the largest audience possible. To
ensure the biggest possible revenue stream the
magazine is distributed nationwide, everywhere you
would expect to see a mag available.
Subscriptions are pushed very hard with online and
in-mag promotions, as well as a 50% discount.
They have embraced digital distribution by alternate version for iPad, iPhone
and PC – all with a similar price.
This is a distribution model to maximise revenue and ensure brand awareness
and high sales.
Little White Lies
Physical Distribution
Bi Monthly
Available at selected Newsagents, art-house
cinemas (Picture House) and bookshop priced
£4.25 – was originally launch exclusively in Borders.
Subscriptions - £21.00 a year for six issues from the
official site
Digital Distribution
iPhone App Aug 2011 – reviews and link to blog
Digital version of archive all available on the official site for FREE
ABC 16,000
Analysis
The magazine is only bi-monthly and available in selected stores – partly do
to a low circulation but also as LWL is an aspiration magazine that is
conscious of being seen in the right places.
There is some appreciation of digital distribution with the app – but the app is
reviews and links to blog post rather than being an interactive digital mag –
this suggests the mag, the physical item is more important than the brand or

4. content.
The fact that the archive is available for free is an interesting business move –
LWL is about design appreciation – Church of London can attract more
readers by making existing content available for free and attract business for
their contract publishing and event business.
Sight & Sound
Physical Distribution
Monthly
Available in most newsagents, selected
bookshop, art-house and independent
cinemas and at the BFI.
Price: £3.90
Subscription – 12 issues for £38.00
BFI members save 35% on subscription
cost.
Circulation 22,000
Digital Distribution
The BFI has an online digital archive.
There is no app, iPad version or
interactive digital app.
Analysis
The remit for Sight and Sound it to the critical voice of the BFI (the institution).
but mainly provide full production credits for every film that has a theatrical
release in the UK and a full plot synopsis. It serves as a national record of
cinema in the UK. As it serves this purpose in magazine format, there has
been no rush to go to digital – this is comparison to Total Film whoʼs main
remit is make money – BFI are a non-profit organisation.