Friday, 10 October 2014

mainstream vs niche magazines

Mainstream
One that appeals to lots of people

Examples: NME, Q, Ok, Bella, Chat, kerrang!

Advantages
  • Hope for large sales
  • More profit
  • More appeal to advertisers
  • Wide target audience 

Disadvantages
  • Lots of competition- flooded market → proliferation of similar product types
  • No specific targeting of any one group
  • Mainstream magazines are usually owned by multimedia corporations, with links to record labels → manipulate record sales
  • Wary of contents in magazine → can’t offend mainstream
  • Can lack credibility

Niche
Intended for a small, specific and dedicated audience

Examples: Terroriser, pitchfork, fangoria

Advantages-
  • Information will be credible and accurate
  • Writers can be expressive(say what they want) →don’t have to be to censor
  • Consumer is more dedicated → definite sales will occur
  • No advertisers to pressure
  • Can use technical terms and jargon
Disadvantages-
  • Isn’t as well-known → less sales
  • Large amounts of competition with mainstream magazines
  • Smaller profits → not as many people buy, so less sales = less profit
  • Expensive→ no money given from large companies so have to increase price
  • Aesthetic quality can be lower→ less money to pay staff

After looking at both the advantages and disadvantages of mainstream and niche magazines I have decided that my magazine will be categorised as mainstream. By deciding this it will help me to decide on my genre and target audience.

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