Q2: Distribution research

Creative Critical Reflection, Year 12 Coursework

How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

There are a number of concepts that need to be addressed to answer this question fully.

  1. Who is you audience?
  2. How did you fulfil your audiences needs and expectations?
  3. What is meant by distribution?
  4. Who owns and controls magazine distribution
  5. How are real media texts distributed in the online age?

Audience

You must define and describe your audience in these ways.

  1. Demographics and Psychographics – audience segmentation
  2. You should also use your Yougov findings to explain what other media texts they consume as well as other information.

Uses & Gratification

  1. You should link specific elements of your magazine (contents, bands, representation, language, design (fonts / graphics) to specific uses and gratifications that you think your audience have.  Refer to Blumler and Katz’ ideas and also AIDA:
    1. Attention – A
    2. Interest – I
    3. Desire – D
    4. Action – A
    5. Entertainment – Uses and Gratification
    6. Information – Uses and Gratification
    7. Personal Identity – Uses and Gratification
    8. Social Interaction – Uses and Gratification

Distribution

  1. Complete this work sheet in order to explore magazine ownership & distribution.
  2. Read the three articles below (also in the work sheet) in groups in order to research the business of magazine distribution and the challenges created by the internet & social media.

Research Articles

  • Please see the presentation in classroom with an article allocated to you and a partner to read, summarise and bullet point onto a slide.
  • This will then act as a resource for facts and stats you will need for your distribution pitch and ideas.

Institutional (Distribution) Issues

  • Audiences expect to get their media for ‘free’
  • The younger audience don’t like to read.
  • Quality (factual) journalism is expensive and so is traditional print and distribution.
  • However, it’s hard to make money out of online content.
    • Most of it goes to FB & Google, leaving everyone else scrabbling for the scraps.
  • Exclusives remain ‘exclusive’ for about 10 seconds before it’s all over social media.
  • How do you square this circle?
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