How does KERRANG! magazine reach its target audience?

My survey I found that KERRANG!

Magazine was by far, the most popular magazine from results in my survey. For this reason I have decided to look at the components of this magazine to see why it is so successful and how it manages to reach its audience.

Kerrang

Rock SoundNME

Q

Metal Hammer

Classic Rock

None

1. What 'Rock' Magazines do you buy?

Their target audience are:

“individually minded, independent of thoughtand musically experienced, an audience definedby attitude, passion and loyalty”

The Target Audience

• Their target audience are 16-24 year olds• 60% of the readers are male• 40% are female• White British • Class C-D

What my target audience wanted to seeResponse Percent Response Count

Interviews 85.00% 17

Posters 65.00% 13

Album reviews 55.00% 11

Gig reviews 50.00% 10

Event diary/Tour dates 55.00% 11

Upcoming albums 60.00% 12

New bands 80.00% 16

Competitions (please specify in 'other' what you'd like to win)

20.00% 4

Polls/Questionaires 20.00% 4

In KERRANG!

Interviews KKKKKKKKK

Posters KKK

Album reviews KK

Gig reviews KKKKKK

Event diary/Tour dates KKKKKK

Upcoming albums KKKKK

New bands KKKK

Competitions (please specify in 'other' what you'd like to win)

KKKKK

Polls/Questionaires K

What my target audience where interest in

InterestPercentage count

Response count

Listen to music 95.00% 19

Facebook 80.00% 16

Meet up with friends 80.00% 16

See live music 70.00% 14

Party 65.00% 13

Play on game consoles 50.00% 10

Pubs 40.00% 8

Read 40.00% 8

Play a musical instrument 40.00% 8

Sing 35.00% 7

Play sports (specify which) 35.00% 7

Twitter 30.00% 6

Tumblr 30.00% 6

Paint/Take photos 30.00% 6

Draw 10.00% 2

Dance 10.00% 2

These are interests that are included within the kerrang magazine shown by adverts and also items that correspond with their readership (play instrument)

This show that my own data is comparable with a real ‘rock’ magazine, so this means that my analysis is consistent for this type of magazine and the target audience.

There are also other interests that are not covered within the kerrang magazine this is not necessary a critisism of my own research but reinforces that the audience is young by the sites they use and access to media etc

How they engage with their readers

• Use of adverts to relate to their interests- Play.com- Xbox- Alternative/music related clothing

• Interactions with the audience- Feed back page- Letter of the week- Polls

Examples

Everything but the music• This will reach audience as

they say, the audience are heavily involved with music and are independently minded so will seek alternative clothing. It is also offering 20% off for students which would included most the people with in the age of the readership

HMV• For a music driven audience

having advertisemnt for companies such as HMV is important as it wil feel as the magazine if giving the audience the best deals and has been given another way to seek new music.

Feedback pageThere is a feedback page in every KERRANG issue which gives the opportunity for the readers to get involved with the magazine and be mentioned in it. They also give opportunity for their readership to win £10 play voucher

MAST HEAD SKYLINE

HEAD LINE

COVER IMAGE

COVER LINESHOUSE STYLE

PULL QUOTE

COVER IMAGE

The cover image is a close up shot of the lead singer of Paramore. The pose of the picture may be showing the persona of a rock artist but it is strange to see a woman ‘fighting’ this links in with the headline cover line “doing it her way’ showing that she is possibly against peoples expectations. The clothes that she is wearing is probably something else you wouldn’t expect to see which also links in with the cover line but also the colours of her hair and dress match that of the house style The picture is quite bright , saturated and contrasted , this makes it stand out especially as the figure is on a dark background. This enables to give more impact to the headline and shapes around it.

MAST HEAD

It goes along the top of the page for the full width of the magazine. This helps the reader recognise and spot the magazine that it is. The text is written in white which also emphasises it. The shattering of the type face of the mast head represents the music re suggesting that its loud and the onomatopoeia of ‘kerrang’ suggests that the music contains a lot of guitars. With all of these codes combined any person just glancing at magazine shelves would instantaneously sport the mast head and will knowing what articles/music to expect inside

HEADLINE

It is the middle right of the page so you just capture it with your eyes and second largest font. Using large font allows the reader to see straight away what the main articles/interviews for this particular issue are. The type face is similar to the mast head and of the same colour; this gives some insight into the article, working with the cover image as she is in a fighting pose. Putting the head line on the cover image gives the reader more interaction with the person in the image and gives you a feel of what the article is about as you are involved ‘in the fight’.

HEADLINE

PULL QUOTE

PULL QUOTE

The pull quote links in with headline to give you insight into the main article. The writing is white to go along with other main texts (mast head and headline) the text change to red to highlight the word no like it did earlier with ‘and more’ this is showing her personality and her name is also in red showing that it is her that is saying ‘no’ the pull quote is in a black star shape making it stand out against her fist showing adding emotion and motion to the words. This is effective and links in the lead article and picture well. The is also a cover line saying ‘exclusive’ in same colour and font as ‘plus’ making it stand out and showing it’s the main article it highlight the importance of the article using both colour and the actual words

BUZZ WORD

ATTRACT ATTENTION

SKYLINE

Tends to be information that the reader influences like awards etc. It uses same colours as headline and pull quote and even changing the colours again to make things stand out and attract reader’s attention.

IVOLVING READER

ASSOCIATED WITH THE ARTIST AS HER NAME IN SAME COLOUR

HOUSE STYLE