Market Research

Before creating the actual design for the magazine, I decided to research other popular publishing's currently around, looking at their sales and circulation figures - as well as its content on both the cover and inner pages for inspiration. I chose to analyse NME, as this was most like the idea I had in mind, and they share similar music tastes to what I had planned, it being indie/alternative influenced.

NME is sold weekly by IPC Media, for £2.30 an issue - which is affordable and worth its amount of content. According to the publisher's website, the magazine is mainly aimed at a younger age group. Therefore, this is where I shall also have to focus my attention to. After discovering the NME Media Pack, I also found the following statistics. They show, on average, the magazine's gender of readers, the ages of those buying it, as well as the circulation and readership figures:

Male: 76%
Female: 24%
Median Age: 23
Circulation: 40,948
Readership: 388,000
Target Market: 17-30

Circulation of the magazine has fallen continuously since 2003. In the first half of 2009, the magazine's circulation was 40,948, 44% down on a 2003 figure of 72,442, which evidently means a huge drop in readers. The internet may be the reason for this, as much of whats included in magazines can now be found online. From this, I can also calculate the magazine's approximate monthly revenue, by simply multiplying its circulation by the price - which would be roughly £400, 000 for NME. However, these are now fluctuating all the time.