Contents Page Research & LIIAR Analysis

Top of the pops- Magazine Contents page:

L- Media Language/ Conventions (see image above)

I- Top of the pops magazine is published by Immediate Media Company. BBC top of the Pops magazine is published by immediate media company London who are limited under licence from the BBC worldwide who help to fund the BBC. BBC Top of the Pops magazine is the biggest-selling teen lifestyle title in the market, focusing on the world of celebrities. The magazine features the latest fashion, song lyrics, quizzes, celebrity gossip and the magazine brings readers exclusive and exciting content every four weeks. The magazine was launched in February 1995. The magazine is a supplementary magazine for the TV show Top of the pops; however, the TV show was cancelled in 2006.  Immediate Media Company is an award winning special interest content and Platform Company. They are one of the biggest consumer media businesses in the UK and the third largest magazine publisher in the UK. Immediate Media Company sells over 70 million magazines every year and reaches 22 million people online every month. Consumers engage with their 32 ecommerce (enable them to sell their magazines online) websites, which receive 30,000 transactions a month. Immediate Media Company combines their reputation for editorial quality with an integrated approach to help them to deliver multi-platform content.

I- The magazine features the genre of pop music and their aim is to reach their target audience and to get them to read as many magazines as possible as well as wanting them to enjoy reading the magazine. It wants to keep its audience up to date with the latest music. This is reflected in many different ways throughout the magazine. One way that it is reflected is through the colours, image and text used across the front cover, these colours and images represent a girly and pop outcome which is what the magazine is aiming for.

A- The target audience of Top of the Pops is young girls, between the age of 11 and 25, with a keen interest in pop music. 87% of people who read the magazine are girls and the other 13% are boys. This age range is reflected through the price of the magazine, which is £2.40, as well as the content that is included in the magazine. The price of the magazine is very important, especially for their target audience, as they do not have a personal income, so depend on parents/guardians to fund them, so the price of the magazine must be made affordable for everyone. They are accessible through all kinds of media (online and through a magazine), so it is important for them to include as much as they can to maintain its readers. The style and colours of the magazine make the appearance friendly to its young readers. The magazine also gives away free gifts and posters, which would attract the target audience. 

 R-Top of the pops magazine promoted the kind of artists that would appear on programmes such as Friday download, which are aimed at people between the ages of 11-14. The pages seem to reflect a house style, using a particular colour scheme, which gives the magazine identity. The varied use of images allows contrast, and shows the readers of the magazine that the magazine isn’t just about music, but it is also about other types of media too, which reflects the BBC being a multimedia corporation. Contents page is spit into boxes and highlight the most important details on the contents page which gives the reader less information to read. These highlighted details will also be relevant to the images.

 Q-Magazine Contents Page:

L- Media Language/ Conventions (see image above)

I- Q magazine is published by Bauer Media Group. Bauer media group is Britain's largest privately owned publishing group. The Group is a worldwide media empire and they offer over 300 magazines in 15 countries. Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group which consist of many companies collected around two main divisions, these are Magazines and Radio and they are widely recognised innovators. Bauer media group say “Each issue will include a balance of bands and scenes to guarantee that we’re providing for our readers’ need for variety and their passionate appetite for their favourite bands as well as their desire to be introduced to new music within our world. “They always ensure that everything they produce is suitable for their target audience. They always focus on the biggest things that are happening in the world each week. Bauer Media currently spans over 80 influential brand names. The first issue of the magazine was published in October 1986 and has been released once a month ever since. 

I- Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. There are many beliefs and values that the publisher of Q want the readers to see. The first thing that you can see is that they want to be an upmarket screen as their magazine is priced at £4.50, this also affects their target audience as this price is not going to appeal to everybody. The contents page features a very famous artist, which suggests that the magazine is very popular otherwise they wouldn't be used to promote the magazine. They print their magazines onto glossy, high quality paper, which shows how professional they are and how well-thought their design is. The Q brand has developed a worldwide reputation as a trusted and premium quality voice of musical authority among fans, musicians and the music industry. Everything that Q does, they aim to do for their readers. 

A- The main target audience, is between the age of 20-40, this is all due to the high cost of the magazine because people between the ages of 11-15, don’t really have a personal income so rely on parent/guardian support and may resort to a different magazine which they are more interested in reading whereas older people have paid jobs so can buy the magazine. Furthermore, the artists and models featured on the contents page of the magazine are of this age and this would therefore appeal to them, so they would purchase it to find out more about these people. The magazine isn’t aimed at a specific gender, which is represented through the neutral colour scheme, showing that it would appeal to both genders male and female.

R- The band featured on the front of the magazine are of the same age as the target audience. The pages reflect a house style, using a particular colour scheme (red, black and white). There are only 2 images because it is an older target audience; you don’t really need lots of images to attract them to read the magazine. The most important details on the contents page are in bold.