TV listing magazine research

Producing the magazines

• IPC – a large publishing company since 1963. Publish magazines such as; NME, Marie Claire, What’s on TV, Country Life, etc. They market to a mass market of women, upper class female market, and specialised magazines targeted at men.

• Bauer – companies span back to 1953. Offering over 300 different magazines. They focus exclusively on magazine and radio advertising. Possibly have a large ’teen’ viewership

• BBC – (British Broadcasting Company) The largest and longest running broadcasting and publishing company. They focus on their own products in Radio, TV and Publishing. There is a large following for the BBC and they are able to connect with a wide variety of age groups.

What’s on TV

• Britain's best selling TV listing magazine for 10 years.• Is known for its main content being on popular soap operas

(i.e. EastEnders, Coronation Street)• They include stories, specials and gossip• Also some sections on radio (such as BBC Radio 5 – a

channel likely aimed at an older audience) • This gives it a more middle aged audience, possibly of

women• We do not feel that this magazine will be a good place for

article as it will not reach out target audience.

Radio Times

• ‘The Radio Times’ is a listings magazine, the first radio listing magazine to air in 1923.

• Importantly the magazine is published by the BBC, who only advertise their own products and our documentary is set to air on BBC Three.

• The Radio Times often have double page spread articles on their upcoming shows, yearly they have a cover dedicated to The Doctor Who special. The demographic who read articles such as this is the same as ours (Young people 16-25)

• This Magazine will be best for our product as continuity is kept because it will all be produced by the BBC.

Article example

Screenshots of other scenes in documentary. Create more insight into the content.

Large amount of images and small descriptive text citing the image.

Article is simple, easy to read, largely references the content of the TV documentary. As the program is about ‘Alex’ he is quoted and a bond can be created with the audience – this may help the viewing figures.

A ‘Channel 4’ documentary (known for producing TV documentaries, produced well known ‘Panorama’ series) therefor article produced by ‘The radio Times’.

Largest image is of ‘Alex’, as he is the main feature of the documentary. Direct address is created, connecting to the audience. “A diary of courage” is

largest font, not the title of featured documentary, chosen specifically for the article.

Props added into the photo (medical wires, food) all related to the content, raw the viewer.

Article example

A preview page for the new ‘Doctor Who’ series. This will draw viewers to the show and other possible magazine articles.

Many screen grabs from the show, or filming of the show, people can see the new and old cast. Viewer can have nostalgia or new viewers can become interested.

‘Doctor Who’ is broadcast on the BBC and the show is notorious for its Christmas special. Therefore articles such as this, leading up to a series, are important to draw a crowd of new and old viewers.

Again a mast head specific for the article but extremely linked to the show.

Article is free flow rather than a ‘question and Answer’. Probably due to it being not focused on one person but a crew and series to come.

There is a base colour scheme of black and white but some accents of red (which link to ‘The Radio Times’’ set colours. There are also hints of blue which is a colour seen in the Doctor Who franchise often.

Article example

From the ‘Sun’ special called ‘TV Magazine’. The sun wanting to have their own listing magazine indicates that here is still a lucrative business in the content.

Image is very stylised but instantly informs a reader that the content is about a period piece of TV. Also if a reader knows the show they may recognise the actress quicker when dressed like this.

A screen gab from the show but also one from off set. This means that there may be more in the article about this actress’ life on the show. This could be from the Sun’s influence, being a newspaper, to sell a different kind of content compared to The Radio Times.

The main header of the double page spread is a quote from the article, this will again be or viewers invested in who the actress is. They have also chosen a font that references the vintage style of dress worn in the drama.

The colour scheme is bright pink and very feminine with only accents of green/blue. This will evoke the large female cast in the show ‘Call the Midwife’ and references the story being about women. This may also mean that females are the target audience of the show, so the colour can draw their eye.

Our decisions

• We have decided to publish the double page spread in ‘The Radio Times’.• This is because it is produced by the ‘BBC’, who only advertise their own

shows and we intend to broadcast the documentary on ‘BBC Three’. • The article will be free flow as there is no specific spokesperson in the

documentary.• We want a large, eye-catching image taking up a majority of a page, to

create interest in our documentary. • Smaller screenshots from the film will be added to imply further content.• A large title will be needed, possibly different from the documentary title. • A bold colour scheme could be used, possibly black and red to be main

features.• We can add props or images that represent the documentary content.

(technology, men/women, social media, etc.)