Essay topic: Discuss the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice within a media industry which you have studied. Exemplar Answer. Blue = argument/point, red = examples

INTRODUCTION

In this essay I will be focussing specifically on the magazine industry. Media ownership raises many

issues for both magazine publishers and magazine audiences. The issues which I think are most

significant include the volatility of the market, the size of publishing companies, new technologies,

and the ability to accurately target and understand the audience.

BODY

The magazine industry is becoming increasingly competitive and challenging with only three in ten

magazines surviving past their fourth year. The market is saturated, circulation figures for print

magazines have been in decline for over a decade and audiences are far less loyal to brands than

they used to be. The issue of increased competition and the squeeze on traditional revenue streams

has led to increased concentration within the market. In the UK, 90% of consumer magazines are

published by just four large companies: Bauer, IPC, BBC and NatMags. Concentration of ownership

has increased over the decade and when Bauer took over Emap in 2008 it became the country’s

biggest magazine publisher. It operates in 15 countries, publishes 292 magazines and is also involved

in radio, television and online media (source: Wikipedia and bauermedia.co.uk).

There are both positive and negative effects of this concentration. For the large publishers, it means

that they can be competitive because they can benefit from economies of scale, larger budgets to

invest in new technologies, research and distribution. Large publishers benefit from being able to

attract large advertising contracts because they can offer potential advertisers good deals if they

want to advertise in a range of their titles. They can benefit from cross advertising for example IPC

advertise NME in Uncut and vice versa and NME magazine can advertise the other NME products

such as NME Radio, the NME Radar tour and NME CDs. Also, by having a range of titles in their stable

they can offset weak titles against stronger ones. This puts Bauer in a strong position with its 292

magazines in 15 countries.

The largest companies will find it easier to develop synergies around their titles. Synergy is the

creation of spin-off and tie-in products around the core brand. For example, Kerrang is not only a

magazine, it is also a radio station a TV channel and an online site. In addition, it organises its own

music awards and supports and advertisers tours and gigs. Synergy increases awareness of the brand

with each product generating income and promoting the others within the brand. Greater

promotional opportunities are also available to the larger publishers because they can afford to

invest more. For example, Cosmopolitan, Glamour and Grazia all sponsor fashion and modelling

awards and competitions from which they derive a lot of publicity.

If a small publisher is taken over by a larger one then it means they stand a better chance of

surviving, Emap’s titles are now more secure because they belong to Bauer, for example. However,

some magazines risk losing their individuality and connection with their audience if they are taken

over. This was the case with Logan’s 1980 cult hit, The Face magazine. This was taken over by Emap

and closed in 2004 due to declining sales and advertising. Emap, now Bauer, wanted to concentrate

on more successful titles.

For audiences, the concentration of ownership can have both positive and negative features. Large

companies generally have more money to invest in audience research, distribution and technological

innovations so they are better placed to deliver to their audience a product which is in line with their

interest and lifestyle. The magazine, NME is an example of this. NME is owned by IPC which, in turn

is owned by the global media company Time Warner. In the past NME has benefited from being the

first to develop an online version, in 1996. It is horizontally integrated, offering NME radio and NME

Online and has developed a wealth of other synergies such as merchandising, organising tours and

party nights. It has also invested a lot of time and money into rebranding to keep pace with changing

audience tastes. Today it has a modern glossy cover and features a broad range of artists and even

the masthead has been updated. For some, this is an improvement but circulation figures have

fallen from 78,000 in 2000 to 30,000 today (ABC), suggesting that the changes may not be popular

with its traditional readers. It is important to note however that as their printed magazine circulation

figures fall, their online readership increases. Today the number of unique online users is 5.3 million

(ABCe).

Audiences may also feel there is less individuality and too much of a focus on advertising within

magazines owned by large publishers such as Bauer and IPC who try to make as much revenue from

advertising as possible. Although, again, the half a million British readers of Bauer’s Grazia seem

pleased with the pro-consumer focus of the magazine (bauer.co.uk).

Although it seems that all the power is in the hands of the largest, best funded publishing

companies, today the playing field has been levelled out somewhat by the emergence of technology.

Digital technology makes production, distribution, exhibition and exchange much easier, cheaper

and faster. This means that almost anyone can create their own online magazine cheaply, even if it is

only a blog. If someone had a passion to create a magazine they now stand a chance of competing,

especially if they clearly understand their audience and make the magazine interactive so that there

is a real exchange between producer and audience. There are many examples of low budget, online-

only magazines which are surviving because they either attract a small amount of advertising

funding or because they cost almost nothing to create. I Love Fake, Amour, NEET, I Like Music and

OurZone are just a few examples of low budget online-only magazines.

An example of a one-title publisher is Crash Magazine. It was launched in 2004 in Scotland and

actually received support funding by the Scottish government in 2008. It is a monthly magazine with

a similar target audience to NME and offers a wide range of music. The publication is based around the

larger Clash brand, which extends to live events around the country and festival partnerships (such as

RockNess and Get Loaded in the UK, and Dour in Belgium), and the website ClashMusic.com. Its current

circulation is around 40,000 which is higher than NME’s at 30,000. I think that this is because the

magazine is glossy, contains beautiful photography and better feature articles.

CONCLUSION

Crash is a good example of a small magazine taking on the might of the largest publishers in the

country and actually surviving. In my introduction I mentioned that the issue of media ownership is

linked to targeting a specific audience. Generally the largest companies will have the most resources

to conduct target audience research and understand the market and their competition but size isn’t

everything. Crash magazine proves that a small title can exist in this volatile marketplace if it really

understands and interacts with its audience, embraces technology and gets its production and

distribution strategy right. It’s past its fourth year and appears to be going strong.