The document summarizes the results of a 14 question questionnaire about music magazine preferences. Key findings include:
- The target audience is primarily females ages 11-15
- Most read pop magazines monthly and would pay £2.99, in line with competitors
- Pop music is the most popular genre among younger respondents
- Music plays an important role in most respondents' lives
- Photographs on the magazine cover are most likely to grab attention
- Respondents expect images, free gifts, and latest news/interviews from magazines
2. My first question was asking the audience what their gender was. 100% of the
answers were female as that is the primary target audience for a pop
magazine, with little exception. Because of this, when it came to handing out
my questionnaire I wanted to ask the appropriate audience and therefore only
asked girls as it is unlikely that boys are going to want to read about how ‘cute’
Harry Styles is.
Question #1
What is your gender?
Male – 0 Female – 20
3. Question #2
The second question was based on age. A range of responses came back, the mean
age was 15 year olds. This has strongly influenced my ideas for my practical work as
most of the girls that read pop magazines are in the higher end of the target audience
age bracket (11-15). Despite this, the content of the magazine has to stay suitable
from age 11 right up to 15 with no exceptions, although those at the higher bracket
could potentially be exposed to a different range of gossip, it would not be appropriate
for the younger audience and therefore should not be included.
4. Question #3
My third question was asking how much people would spend on buying a pop music magazine.
Rather than doing a closed question influencing the audience with price brackets, I did an open
question allowing them to think of a suitable price they would actually pay. A variety a prices came
back, as shown in the table below. The most popular price was £2.99. This tells me that my magazine
itself should be roughly that price, also it is the same as competitor pop magazines such as We Love
Pop. It also tells me that perhaps if the magazine cost anymore they would not be as convinced to
buy it, because the price deters them away.
5. Question #4
The next question I asked was how often do you buy or read music magazines. The answer to this question would
help me establish weather my magazine should weekly or monthly. The majority of people that do purchase music
magazines said that they buy them monthly. This helped answer my question and led me in the direction on how
often to publish my magazine. Also, it makes more sense as magazines contain gossip from the pop world, some
weeks there could potentially have nothing to talk about, meaning the magazine itself would be a disappointment and
could infact make people not want to purchase it again. However, quite a few of those that answered my
questionnaire – in the higher age groups: 16, 17, 18 do not purchase music magazines. Additionally, no one
purchases one ‘annually’.
6. Question #5Next I asked people what their favourite genre of music was. Those in the age brackets of 11-14 ticked just pop.
However, the older ones from 15-18 chose pop as well as R’n’B and Indie, as well as others. This shows me
that pop music is in fact popular with the younger generation and people would be inclined to buy the magazine
in those age groups rather than those in the older generation who more than likely would not purchase a paper
magazine but would instead be more inclined to use the website or follow the magazine on social media sites.
Additionally, that the younger generation are the ‘loyal’ fans and my magazine should be more adaptive to them
as they are the ones who are going to consistently buy it. Even though I asked 20 people to answer my
questionnaire, for this question specifically, it had the option to tick more than one if necessary.
7. Question #6
Question six was a continuation of question five: “if other, please state”. The only other
genre people mentioned was Country. Despite people mentioning it, no one ticked it as one
of their “favourite” genre of music.
8. Question #7Question seven asked how often people attend live gigs/festivals/concerts. It was a closed question so
people had to tick which one suited them the most. In general people attend them every few months –
annually. This could suggest that perhaps people do not attend them regularly due to the price and the
little guarantee of getting a good seat. My magazine will therefore offer the audience the opportunity to win
VIP tickets to their favourite artists shows, without having to worry about having to ask their parents to buy
tickets for them!
9. Question #8
Continuing on from question seven, I asked those answering it to list a maximum of three
festivals/gigs/concerts that they have been to. This roughly gives me an indication of their
favourite artists and concerts that they like to attend, which could help my magazine as
prizes could be won as well as merchandise and themes revolving around those artists.
10. Question #9
Next, I asked on a scale of 1-10 how strongly does music feature in their lives – 10 being
the highest. The answers were all seven and above. This shows that music is a key aspect
in most of their lives and take it quiet seriously. This should be reflected in my magazine,
and should talk about the important news and celebrate the pop music industry rather than
talk about mini scandals.
11. Question #10
Question 10 was “where do you listen to music the most?”, the majority of people said at home or in
the car/public transport. This gives me a rough idea of how people listen to music, whether its on the
TV, the computer, on the radio or on their mobiles. By asking this, it relates to whether I can offer my
audience things like 3 free downloads of iTunes. My findings show that listening to music on the way
to school or at school was the most common place, therefore I could offer my audience things such
as downloads or headphones!
12. Question #11
Question 11 asks the respondents what device they listen to music on the most. By asking this, I can work out what sort of devices
my target audience use, this way I can publish my magazine in many different ways. For instance if they have an iPhone or iPod I
could create an app that they could download. I could also broaden my brand extensions to radio stations and tv channels as this
cross media synergy would overall strengthen my brand and provide opportunities for promotion and higher revenue.. My findings
showed that most people listen to music of their mobile phone, whereby an app and a radio station could be downloaded onto.
13. Question #12
Question 12 asks what is most likely to grab your attention first on a magazine front cover. By asking this it would
help to establish what stands out and makes people want to buy magazines – even if it is on impulse. The majority
of people said photo’s (including the main image). This tells me that the use of images is very important on a front
cover and could decide whether someone purchases it or not. It is therefore important that loved and high profile
celebrities are published on the front cover for a higher success rate and circulation of my magazine.
14. Question #13
Question 13 was asking what music magazines people have most recently purchased, I asked this in
order to establish what the most popular magazine is within the group of people I asked. The results
came back as Top of the Pops – this shows that people do still purchase pop magazines but not only
that, Top of the Pops is a lot older than We Love Pop – which has only been out for two years, this
shows customer loyalty. However, it could also reflect those in the higher age bracket I asked - they
may have purchased that magazine when they was a lot younger and haven’t purchase it or anything
else since.
15. Question #14
The last question on my questionnaire was about customer expectations, by asking this I would be able
to establish what people expect from magazines to ensure that I fulfil their needs when it comes to
making my own magazine. Similar ideas kept cropping up which means that the people I asked to fill out
my questionnaire are aware of what is important in a magazine, all the answers influence those that will
be in my own magazine. These include: images, free gifts(covermount), latest news and interviews.
