3. • Top of the Pops magazine is a monthly publication
published by BBC Magazines. It features chart
information, star gossip, fashion and beauty advice,
quizzes, song lyrics and posters. It is a supplementary
magazine for the TV show Top of the Pops until the
latter was cancelled in 2006.
• The magazine was launched in February 1995 and is
famous for giving girl group The Spice Girls their
nicknames. Alongside a revamp of the TV show, it was
originally marketed as the missing link between Smash
Hits and NME, but its format was gradually changed,
with less music content and a demographic shift to
young girls. It is still in publication despite the
cancellation of the TV show.
4. FEATURES
• Oops, Shameful Celeb Slip Ups—The magazine picks the
funniest celebrity pictures and associates them with a witty
quote
• Your Oops—Readers send in the most shameful stories
• Gossip 2 Go—The month's hottest celebrity gossip
• The Wonderful World Of The Wanted-A page wrtten by The
Wanted
• Don't Miss—The magazine picks some of the hottest films,
TV programmes and games, plus the latest single reviews
by a random celebrity.
• Top Of The Shops—The magazine picks out some of the
hottest bargains, where you can buy them, and their price
5. • Real Life—The magazine draws our attention to
situations that happen in the real world
• The Surgery—Originally called Star Therapy, this
was hosted by a random celebrity who tries to
sort out readers' problems. Along with the name
change, the section is now hosted by BBC Radio
1's Aled and BBC Slink's Dr Mel.
• Your Letters—Hosted by Dick and Dom who take
a look at some of our readers' gossip about
stars, clothes or just real life situations.
• One Direction page with your questions and their
answers, 1D fan of the month
6.
7. • Background and Ownership
Created in 1995, this monthly magazine keeps its
readership (87% girls; 13% boys; primary audience
aged between 11-15 years) thoroughly informed
with all things pop music and pop-related celebrity.
At a cost of £2.30, it is quite expensive for a 42 page
glossy magazine. However the freebies and little
extras included help this price to be reasonable. The
institution that makes this magazine is the BBC
Media Institution. Within the magazine there are
articles which direct readers to many children’s BBC
productions, such as Tracey Beaker (CBBC Channel).
8.
9. • Magazine features; “ Oop, Shameful Celeb Muck Ups” –
The magazine picks out “cringe” celebrity pictures and
gives them each a witty quote “ Your oops” – Readers
send in their own embarrassing stories “ Gossip2Go” –
The month’s newest celebrity gossip “ Don’t Miss” –
The magazine promotes the latest film for it’s target
audience e.g. Twilight Saga, New Moon.
• “ Real Life” – Situations from the real world to inform
young girls of the outside threats “ Your letters” –
Keeping in touch with readers Posters of celebrities for
readers to cut out. top of the pops is already a music
show on TV, therefore buyers would immediately relate
the products back to the show. If they already have a
liking of the show then they could assume the content
of the magazine and would perhaps like to read it for
more information about their favourite stars.
10. • This magazine features the genre of Pop music
i.e. chart music with a wide appeal, especially
young female and male singers/bands. It is
orientated towards young females, and keeping
them up to date with the latest in ‘popular
music’ but in an effort to retain its young, largely
female readership – a readership not usually
addressed by music magazines – it has lifestyle
features like fashion and make-up, celebrity
gossip, some elements familar from ‘real –life’
magazines, celebrity scandal, articles about boys
and relationships etc. Of course, all these are
watered down so appropriate for the young
readership.
11.
12. • Reader Profile Top of the pops readers are young
consumers, primarily female, with a keen sense of
curiosity towards pop music and its celebrities. They
have varied interests within this topic, consisting of
young male and female celebrities from TV shows, films,
successful musicians, either soloists or bands, mostly
female soloists and male bands. They are accessible
through all kinds of media, which is why this magazine
must throw in all it can to maintain its readers. As the
consumers are of 11-14yrs, they do not have an income,
therefore they depend on parents/guardians. The
content must be suitable for 11-14yrs, otherwise
parents would not feel obliged to buy a product for their
child which contains explicit material – although a lot of
the material teases about that sort of thing.
13.
14. • Style of the magazine Bright colours and shiny happy
people – make the appearance friendly to its young
readers. Male artists are portrayed and therefore viewed
as an object of desire. Female artists are portrayed and
therefore viewed as an objects of inspiration. Mode of
address is young, youth orientated slang. Use of teen
jargon e.g. “fit” or “phwoar.”
• Free gifts - Female beauty products Adverts – Aimed at
females, hygiene and beauty products, also advert for
NCPCC – Childline against any kind of abuse. Question
and answer layout for interviews, as opposed to
journalistic features.
• Competitions etc to give readers a sense of ownership to
encourage them to buy it.
15.
16. • Cover Analysis This is a typical example of an eye
catching magazine cover, not only does it use vibrant
colours to attract buyers buy it also has a picture of a
successful pop star to appeal to its target audience.
Looking at this particular cover, I would say that it
appeals more to girls than to boys, purely because of all
the information and goodies the magazine has to offer.
• The colours are bright and vibrant and often
stereotypical female to appeal to the primary audience.
• This can be reinforced by the use of free gifts, such as
eyeliners and liquid glitter liners.
• Sometimes the cover is packed with images and text -
bright colourful images, music stars or celebrities from
TV shows or movies that appeal to this target audience,
like “New Moon.”
17. • The varied use of images allows contrast within the
cover showing its readers the magazine is not just
about music but all other types of media too, which of
course, reflects the BBC being a multimedia corporation
even if the central theme is music.
• The diversity in the articles allows something for
everyone.
• There is a limited colour scheme for the cover- 5
colours apart from the BBC logo; similarly, there is a
limited use of fonts so as not to make the cover look
too complicated
• The range of hooks/cover lines gives the reader the
impression that there is something for them.
• The use of competitions and cut out posters are
interactive components to the magazine, which are fun
for the readers and helps give them a sense of
ownership.
18.
19. • Colour contrast and layout. Pages tend to reflect a
house style, using a particular colour scheme, which
helps gives the issue identity. Colours are used to
make the layout look vibrant and attractive. The pages
are split up with the use of text, boxes and images.
Boxes include more text or highlight various details
relevant to the feature to make them stand out for the
reader. Look at the way images are used – how is the
main subject posed and positioned? What is this
telling the audience? Bars across the top of the pages
can be used as headings to imply the “exclusiveness”
of the article. Quotes can be used outside the
feature, sometimes as the title, to hook the reader and
give the impression she/he is finding out something
directly from the star.
20. • Future of Music Magazines
Due to the recent increase of digital media, consisting of
mobile phones, internet and interactive television, it
appears that music magazines will eventually decrease in
the market making way for new media which is not yet
available. At the moment all digital media has become a
threat to music magazines, so most of the magazine
publishers have created websites that complement their
magazines to keep readers updated for free, whilst also
keeping information only for their magazines to persuade
readers to continue purchasing their product. As digital
media has become a lot less costly as buying weekly or
monthly magazines it seems readers numbers may
decrease; however, there will always be people who do
not have access to the digital media or like to read from a
screen and prefer hard copies.
21. • Language Analysis That this is aimed at younger readers is
apparent from the use short and simple sentences. The
informal tone and use of colloquialisms help the target
audience relate to the text; hence they’ll be more likely to
buy it. Use of the word, “Your,” immediately attaches the
reader to the article suggesting it is about a reader’s
experience and one, therefore, that others can share. The
use of alliteration gives titles rhythm, making them bright
and catchy, Stories are summed up with a snappy topic
phrase either in the title or strapline to engage the reader.
• Simple informal language is used to maintain the feeling that
the true-life ‘embarrassing stories’ are written for and by
readers of the same age range and that they happen to
everyone. This is also enforced with the use of names after
each story. Generally, these are used to reassure the readers
that they are not alone in their experiences, reflecting the
BBC’s educational remit. Exclamation marks emphasise the
point of each story. This immediately states the aim of each
story for the readers, similar to the snappy headings.
22. • Top of the Pops magazine promotes the kind
of artists that appear on CBBC programmes
like Friday Download as well as on BBC Radio
One; however it also promotes the film
industry with the use of adverts for the recent
film releases that are suitable to the product’s
audience. Other BBC products are promoted
too.
