Target Audience

In order to produce a successful magazine I need to locate a specific target audience who I will aim my publication at. Making considerations to the selected target audience when making decisions for my work will hopefully ensure that my magazine will be appealing to them, and find a place in the highly competitive industry of magazine sales.

I am going to aim my magazine at a target audience similar to that of Kerrang! and NME magazine. Above is an NRS survey showing the readership of, among others, Kerrang! and NME magazine. The survey displays the following data about readers of the magazines. (all numbers are in thousands)

Social Class ABC1: Kerrang 239-Nme:250

Social Class C2DE: Kerrang:178-NME:137

Age group 15-44:Kerrang:378 -NME:339

Age group 45+:Kerrang: 39 -NME49

Men: Kerrang:290-NME:296

Women:Kerrang:127-NME: 91

As can be seen from the highest values (in bold) the overall conclusions that can be drawn from this survey are that I should target my magazine at 15-44 year old males within the ABC1 social class.

Above is the reader profile for a reader of NME magazine, which I got from ipcmedia.com. The media pack shows what kind of consumer products NME readers will buy, and also has figures showing their interests and typical purchases. From this media pack I have gathered that the typical NME reader enjoys going to gigs and live events, likes to look well-dressed and as a result will spend quite a lot of money on clothing. They are also frequent internet users, and purchase a lot of digital equipment and consoles/games. The average age of the NME reader is 24, and the majority of them are in full time employment.

After researching the target audience of Kerrang! magazine, I have only found a small amount of information from official sources.

From http://www.authorstream.com/ I have found that Kerrang! magazine is considered to be 'a world where Jackass meets Playstation and Skate culture meets iPod' giving me an impression of what scene the magazine appeals to. This website also reinforced the data from the NRS survey that Kerrang! magazine is primarily aimed at young men.

I also read a brief comment on the publishers of Kerrang! magazine's website, Bauer Media. Which gave the following audience profile: "Individually minded, independent of thought and musically experienced, an audience defined by attitude, passion and loyalty."

This gave me a view on the qualities of the Kerrang! readership beyond statistics and data. I now have a better idea of what a typical reader is like as a person.

After researching the readership of both of these magazines. I have come up with the following target audience for my own magazine.

A typical reader of my music magazine will be:

A young man between 16-25, of a middle class background (social class ABC1) who is either in full time education or employment. They will enjoy live music, new technologies, place importance on their appearance and will be willing to pay extra for quality and style. Their preferred styles of music will be rock and indie, and they will dress accordingly.