During my media sessions in school, I have been analysing two magazine which are viewed by many users daily, NME and Top of the Pops. This analysis consisted of finding out how many advertisements and the fraction of the page they take up, features, editorials, letter pages and full page articles. My intentions for collecting this data were to find out the target audience and how it is shown through demographics and psychographics.
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| NME |
NME: NME is a magazine, with a genre of Indie rock/alternative. This magazine is controlled by advertisements. Over half of the magazine is taken up with advertisements which show promotion towards the audience. It includes 47 advertisements which bring you the latest music news and reviews, music videos and gossip, as well as providing information about concert tickets. The editorial in this magazine is only 1 page, which is summarised into a brief. There are in total 18 full page articles, excludes 8 half page articles. This magazine does not include a sustained amount of letter pages; there are only 2 in this magazine. The main feature of this magazine, which changes at every release, is the front cover.
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| Top of the Pops |
Top of the Pops: Top of the Pops is the other magazine which I based my analysis on. Top of the Pops is a Pop magazine, with the content varying from NME. Top of the Pops had many less pages and only included 8 advertisments, this was a huge difference. The advertisements included, 2 on latest films out in the cinema, 2 always adverts, 1 phone ringtone advert and 2 make-up adverts. All 8 advertisements took up 8 pages and had a controlling impact on the conclusion for target audience. It contained 3 letter pages and the 6 full page articles. Despite this, there was no editorial.
Comparing Analysis
Conclusion to Target Audience
The amount of space
taken up in magazine
I suspect demographically NME, is targeted towards a male audience, 14 - 30, in some cases aspiring towards 12 -13 year olds. This is because of the use of promotions and adverts which appeal to almost all males in this age category, e.g. the majority of males use gaming, the minority of females do. Likewise, this has the influence on Top of the Pops. I suspect demographically it is targeted at young females aged 8 - 13, this is strongly influenced by the use of make-up and always adverts. The use of the always adverts strongly define the target audience. The way in which NME is intellectual with the majority being a reading element, contrasts with Top of the Pops. Top of the Pops is limited in the reading, when it is used; the language is very simplistic and informal. As a whole, the magazine is mainly filled with pictures and posters; this reflects the target audience as young girls are the generation most likely to use posters in bedrooms.
Emphasising the use of language contrast in the magazines, this can be visually shown by the pie chart showing the adverts in the magazine and how much space they take up. This can be seen as showing the maturity and age needed for NME, whereas Top of the Pops is limited on amount which re-enacts the target audience being young girls, who do not read formal issues and are limited in knowledge about society.
Online Magazine Analysis
In order to gain a wider knowledge about content, how magazines attract and represent their target audience and a wider understanding of all types of magazines, not only physical copies, I analysed an online magazine. I decided to analyse Kerrang! Although, it does not have the same target audience as my intended, it allowed me to notify differences of different genre's. It also distanced from the two above. I presented my findings on a power point presentation, which is present below.
Online Music Magazine Analysis
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