Investigating a niche magazine

The Niche Market

A lot of genres are split into sub genres (and sub-sub genres etc) each sub genre becomes more directed at the niche market, this then means that sales and income decrease. A niche magazine is a magazine that has a small audience due to its content being specific topics.

The Pros of a niche magazine:

• Easier to target at specific audiences.
• More ability to be creative.
• More loyal customers, as they are more likely to subscribe for long periods of time.
• Genuine interes from customers.
  

The Cons of a niche magazine:

• Less income due to small audience of the magazine.
• Less reputation.
• Cheaper for advertisers and so less profit is made.

Metal Forces

Metal forces is an example of a niche magazine, it was first published in 1983, its main promotion was the metal and rock genre, The magazine used unsigned and therefore unknown bands for the front cover. However in doing this the bands reputation heightened and some even went on to get signed and secure record deals.  This magazine was the first to discuss thrash metal and death metal. Thrash and death metal is a sub genre of rock music.

Metal Forces has a website and is a modern design unlike the magazine, however its main focus is still on previous bands  from the 80's and so still gives the idea that the target audience is very niche.

Why might sales be decreasing?

ABC- Audit Bureau Circulation

The main reason for a decrease in sales in magazines is the increase in internet circulation, this means that less hard copies of magazines are being purchased. Some examples of magazines sales that have decreased are 'OK' magazine which decreased by 13.9%, 'HELLO' magazine which decreased by 8% and 'KERRANG' which decreased by 2.1%. Another reason that sales have gone down may be because of the country's recession, and so less people are able to afford the magazines.

According to ABC the top selling magazines are Tescos and Asda, this is because it appeals to a massive audience as many people go to these supermarkets and it is an essential in peoples lives, the magazines are also situated at the till and so this adds to the sale

Broadcast V Narrowcast

There are two types of target audiences, they are a massmarket which is broadcast and a niche market which is narrowcast. Broadcast means that there is a mass target audience and so appeals so a wide variety of people. Whereas Narrowcast is where something is very specific and focasus on a certain aspect meaing that there target audience is specific and therfore smaller than broadcast.