Target Audience Research

Target Audience

Kerrang! has a weekly circulation of 70,000, and a readership of approximately 542,000.

The core target audience for Kerrang! is 15-24 year olds with a 60:40 male/female split.

Kerrang! readers are sharp, individualistic and above all fanatical about their music, buying on average 31 CD albums a year.

The readers are also immensely loyal to Kerrang! In essence the brand helps provide a group of "outsiders" with a sense of community.

Bauer and IPC

Two of the largest music magazine institutions in the UK are Bauer and IPC media.

In 1985 it was founded by Johann Bauer. It is a worldwide publishing company, which own 282 magazines in 15 countries. Bauer own kerrang!, Mojo and Q music magazines.

IPC is owned by Time Inc. the publishing division of Time Warner Inc. They employ over 2,200 people and are one of the largest UK consumer publishing companies. IPC Media own NME and Uncut

Kerrang! costs £2.20 and is released weekly. Mojo costs £4.10 and is released monthly, Q costs £3.90 and is also released monthly.

NME costs £2.20 and is released weekly every wednesday, it seems to be a mainstream magazine with a large readership; whereas Uncut costs £4.30, is released monthly and seems to be a more niche magazine.

Kerrang! has a weekly circulation of 70,000 people and a readership of approximately 542,000 people. The core target audience for Kerrang! is 15-24 year olds with an interest in rock/metal music. There is a 60:40 male/female readership split.

NME has a weekly circulation of 56,284 people and a readership of approximately 362,000 people. Its core target audience is men aged 17-30 with an interest in contemporary music.

Glossary of Key Terms for Magazine Analysis

Masthead - The name and logo of the magazine.

The Lead - The introductory paragraph of an article. Usually written in bold or capitals.Body copy refers to the text of your written articles, which should be produced as a printed presentation to accepted industry standards, e.g. correct use of language, font size, word limits etc. Usually written in columns.

Serif font - Fonts like Times New Roman, or Baskerville Old Face, which have little bars (serifs) on the end of the letters.

Sans serif font - Fonts like Impact, or Agency FB, which do not have little bars (serifs) on the end of the letters.

Drop Capitals - Really big letter, which start off an article.

Cross Head - Small sub-heading used to split up a large block of text.White Space – white parts of a page other than text or pictures.

Mode Of Address - How the magazine talks to the audience.Sell Lines – Text on the cover that helps to sell the magazine to the audience. Kerrang!’s sell line is “life is loud”.

Banners - Text, which stands out because its on a coloured background.

House Style - A magazines distinctive design that distinguishes it from its competitors.

Borders - The gaps at the edges of the page.

Gutters - The gaps between the columns of text.

Leading - The space between lines of text.

Kerning - The space between letters.

Strap Lines - A smaller headline, printed above the main headline.

By-lines - Name of the person who wrote the article.

Picture Credits - Where did the photos come from, or who took them.

Anchorage - The way in which text helps to pin down the meaning of a picture and visa versa.

Draft Front Cover