Target Audience and Demographics

To decide upon my target audience I researched the audiences of several of the magazines I have already studied (NME, Rolling Stone and Billboard) and also those of style magazine Vogue and as I intend to incorporate style and fashion elements into my magazine.

Readership profiles are a good way to find out the exact type of people who are buying and reading a magazine and I used them in my research:

NME

• Male: 69%
• Female: 31%
• Average age: 24 years old
• Full time workers: 52%
• Part time workers: 7%
• Students: 29%

On average NME readers spend in a year:

• £152 on footwear
• £532 on clothing
• £66 on DVDs
• £170 on digital cameras
• £1229 on music equipment

The average NME reader will spend 19 hours on the internet per week with 94% using the internet and 84% receiving TV or satellite signals

From this research I concluded that the people reading NME are largely young adults either in education or just entering full time work. They have particular interest in fashion (shown through their spending figures) and make frequent use of the internet. From this I can see that incorporating style and fashion into my magazine would be a good idea as it will encompass two areas these people are interested in; filling a gap in the market for music and fashion magazines which would help to boost sales of my magazine. I think it would also be beneficial to have an online format for my magazine (include a website address somewhere on the cover or contents) and link my magazine to social media outlets that these people make frequent use of to make my content available on multiple platforms.

Rolling Stone

• Male: 61.7%
• Female: 38.3%
• Age 18-24: 24.5%
• Age 25-34: 24.9%
• Age 35-44: 18.8%
• Age 45-54: 15.1%
• Age 55+: 16.7%
• Median age: 35.3
• Median household income: $66,440 (£53053.32)
• Median individual employment income: $35,358 (£28,224.31)
• In employment: 68.2%
• Unemployed: 19%
• Students: 12.8%
• White Caucasian: 74.3%
• Black: 14.8%
• Spanish/Hispanic: 15%
• Asian: 1.7%
• Other: 11.2%

This list of statistics helped me to establish that the average reader of Rolling Stone is within or slightly above the middle class with some disposable income. This means I could give my magazine a luxury feel to it as the people who would be interested in it have the income to spare. As with NME the majority of readers are under 30 years old however the gender split is slightly more equal although it is still a male majority meaning perhaps there is a gap in the market for a magazine directed equally towards both genders.

Billboard

• Male: 77%
• Female: 23%
• Average age: 47
• College Graduate: 68%
• Student: 25%
• Median household income: $212,000 (£169,227)

Online audience

• Male: 43%
• Female: 57%
• Average age: 37
• Median household income: $96,000 (£76,631)

Social Media audience:

• Facebook: 8.4 million "likes"
• Twitter: 4.63 million followers
• Instagram: 2.7 million followers
• YouTube: 890,597 subscribers
• Google +: 2.25 million followers
• Pinterest: 12,000 followers

Circulation:

Billboard is almost exclusively distributed within the United States with only 5% of it's circulation coming from outside the country. 40% of it's circulation comes from the East Coast and 20% from the West with 35% coming from other US cities. The lack of international circulation could be a gap in the market my magazine aims to fill, my magazine could work on being accessible on both sides of the Atlantic and everywhere else in the world. To help breach the culture gap I could include articles about music and events in a variety of countries

The other statistics from Billboard show a staggering level of social media following. Their online success is something I also would hope to achieve with my magazine and so I would create social media platforms for it and advertise them in the print. There is a difference of 10 years in the ages of their online and print audiences. This is something my magazine could aim to bring together by advertising it's online platforms within the magazine. Readers of Billboard seem to be of the upper class with a large amount of disposable income which further gives reason to have my magazine be of a luxury standard.

Vogue

• Male: 15%
• Female: 85%
• Age 16-24: 36%
• Age 25-34: 32%
• Age 35-44: 15%
• Age 44+: 16%
• Average print age: 35
• Average online age: 35
• In employment: 64%
• In high level employment: 53%
• High income (upper class) : 78%

Social Media audience:

• Facebook: 3,573,135 "likes"
• Twitter: 3,484,905 followers
• Instagram: 1,956,059 followers
• YouTube: 388,223 subscribers

On average:

• 52% of readers buy clothing or shoes more than once a month
• 93% of readers own designer fashion
• 67% of readers buy cosmetics or perfume more than once a month
• 94% of readers own premium/top end beauty products
• 52% of readers are able to take time to read the magazine

The statistics prove that those interested in the high end fashion magazines such as Vogue are most often among the upper class with a large amount of disposable income. They are slightly older than the target audiences of the music magazines and I feel there is a gap in the market for luxury fashion content (combined with music content) geared slightly more towards the younger audiences. 

From my research I have decided that the target audience for my magazine will be:

• Between the ages 15-30 (young adults)
• Of both genders
• Interested in the "indie" music genre
• Interested in fashion
• Interested in culture
• Middle/upper class with disposable income
• Able/eager to use online outlets such as websites and social media

Sources:

NME readership profile: https://www.slideshare.net/Natalieascw/nme-readership-profile

Rolling Stone demographics: http://www.srds.com/mediakits/rollingstone/demographics.html

Billboard media kit: http://www.srds.com/mediakits/rollingstone/demographics.html
Vogue media kit: http://digital-assets.condenast.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/static/mediapack/vg_media_pack_latest.pdf
(all statistics correct as of December 2016)