NME Case Study

WHAT IS NME?

NME is a popular music magazine which gets published weekly in UK since 1952. The New Musical express was bought by Maurice Kinn. At the beginning NME was competing against other magazines like Melody Maker, as NME were selling 200,000 issues a week it became Britain’s most popular music magazine in the 1970’s.

Males 65%

16-24 50%

25-34 23%

ABC1 79%

Target Audience Stats

1960’SAs the NME wanted be different they took the idea of using the US Billboard magazine and adapted in the 1960’s. They first featured bands like the Beatles and The Rolling Stones on the front cover of magazine. To make NME more known they then created their own poll winners features bands within the magazines. They then won in the concert and their awards were filmed on British Television and this was their first of many cross broadcasting.

1970’S

In the beginning of 70’s NME started to loos its public interest therefore to bring their readers back they changed the faces on their magazine, only for the reader’s suitability. Also they started to advertise for “hip young gunslingers” which drew new reader’s attention. Now that they had the biggest circulation every brand wanted to be noticed by NME.

1980’S

Gradually in the 80’s readers could gain cassette tapes by mail order at low prices through NME magazine.

1990’S

In the 90’s NME launched their first virtual vision for music, their webpage. However this wasn’t very successful so it was redeveloped in 2005.

2000

In 2002 they released original magazines reviewing artist/bands, which related to many different genres of music.NME were also catering to the many music trends, e.g: 70’s punk and 80’s Goth.

SECRET SUCCESS!

NME currently has an impressive 1.8 million unique user (ABCe), up eight per cent year on year. According to NME Publishing Director, Paul Cheal;“Unlike many other IPC online properties we’ve survived,” he explained. “Simplicity in navigation has been key in making us a survivor and a commercial success. Most users still come for news and that’s a good thing but we’re trying to drive them to other content areas. The website compliments the magazine perfectly by bringing it to a wider audience.”

MAGAZINE COVER

 The current circulation of NME is 58,284. It Has A3 pages with glossy print on the front cover. From what it was before it much brighter and alluring. It has one main image in the centre with smaller inserts around. The main artist is always related to the audience and recognises the specific band. They use slang however interpreted in different ways.

NME CULTURE

 NME follows the mainstream music as in today’s society there are different sub cultures. NME attracts many enthusiasts as it focuses on contemporary music/bands. The main focus is on the artists who produce new songs for that time. There are also attracting adverts within the magazine which makes the readers want to read more in depth. To make the readers feel they have been included in the magazine NME have their own sections of letter publishing were people could have their say. Towards the end of the magazine the artist then has his say from his point of view for the readers to see. This way the readers are very well involved within the magazine by having their say and looking at the artist opinion.

ADVERTISING RELATIONSHIP

NME has many adverts and has a strong relationship between the editor and advertiser. According to the advertiser however much they are willing to pay that is how their advert would be laid out. The money is always fixed price and almost £751 million is spent in total on advertising across all media every year in the UK. Through the advertising NME promote their other ways of broadcasting such as websites and radios.

NME WEBSITE

NME website is very attractive as it appeals to both the older and younger generations. It has many images with all of sorts of news for everyone. On the actual website you could hear music which attracts the teenagers. NME is using all these convergence they are able to connect with many of their fans. As they use allot of innovation and technology their fans are seen as the younger generation.