Top Of The Pops Analysis

Top Of The Pops

Cover Price £2.99

Frequency 4 Weekly

Circulation 98,030

Readership 298,000

Boys 15%

Girls 85%

Age range 11-15 years

Key Facts•It was launched in February 1995•The magazine is mainly focused on pop music. •Published after the TV show. •The main content of this magazine includes "celebrity" gossip, cringes, fashion and beauty advice, articles on pop and movie stars, quizzes, horoscopes, posters and song lyrics. •The brand identity of this magazine is a happy, cheery, pop music, commercialised, innocent pre teen magazine. It conforms to dominant ideology and is aimed at a younger market interested in celebrities and "teen stars".•It is published every month•It was originally marketed as the missing link between Smash Hits and NME, but its format was gradually changed, with less music content and a demographic shift to young girls•The title has had several editors over the years, including Peter Lorraine, Corinna Schaffer and Rosalie Snaith, and contributing editors including Adam Tanswell. Its current editor is Peter Hart.•The target audience of top of the pops magazine are young girls/pre teens who are interested in fashion, gossip and pop music.

House Style- The house style is blue, pink and black- which together connote winter and create an icy feel to the cover. This relates the winter edition of the magazine as it’s an November to December issue. By using a lot of pink on the cover, immediately suggest the target audience is young, girls. The fonts used throughout the page are bubbly and has a lot of flicks in them, suggesting the target audience is for a females.

Main image- The main image is of a pop boy band, One Direction which suggests the magazine is aimed at a pop music genre. The image is large and placed directly in the centre of the page creating a focal point for the readers. The band are smiling and use direct eye contact which makes readers feel invited and more personal. This also connotes happiness which will make the readers want to buy the magazine.

Smaller Images- All the smaller images are of Teen-Celebes or artists related to pop. This suggests that ‘Top of the Pops’ is a pop magazine. By using lots of imagery on the page suggests that the target audience is quite young, as young people like to see a lot of visual images to stay entertained.

Coverlines- The coverlines are all mainly pink and white which follows the house style for the page. They are also organised in the form of Rule of Thirds which makes the page easier to read and makes it look simplistic. They are also mainly about boys and fashion for example, ‘boys real fears revealed’ which suggests that the target audience is for young girls

Barcode/Price/Issue Date- informs the reader about the costing and information of the magazine. The price is £ 3.99 which is quite expensive and suggests it is aimed at a young audience who still get their working parents to buy the magazine for them.

Flasher- A flasher is used as a little taster to tell the readers what’s going to be inside the magazine. This engages them and can lead them into purchasing the magazine if they are interested. ‘Rea’ is underlined in blue to exaggerate and ‘revealed’ in a black, sans serif font to ensure the readers can notice it.

Header- The header contains a small image of ‘Pixie Lott’ relating to the ‘Backstage’ gossip about her, this immediately makes the readers get hooked and entertained as they would want to find out more about this coverline. The header is written in pink and is against a black background. This is to make the text stand out. Pixie’s name is also in bold to exaggerate the importance of her to the readers.

Main Coverline- The main coverline is in blue which shows importance as the only other blue text on the cover is the masthead. It also connotes ice and snow and gives a ‘Christmas’ feel to the cover. It is written in a girly, font with a heart as the dot of the ‘I’ which suggests the magazine is aimed at young girls.

Masthead- The masthead is written in an extremely girly, bubbly font, with the ‘S’of the ‘Pops’ exaggerated and uses swirls. This suggests that the target audience is quite young. Also the masthead is in blue which stands out against the white background. It is also really bright which ensures the readers will notice it from afar.

Rule Of Thirds

Mode of Address- The mode of address is very informal and colloquial. The language used is very cheesy for example, ‘dating cringes and Christmas kisses from 1D’ which suggest it is aimed at a younger audience to keep them entertained by talking about their interests. Many play on words are used too like ‘Flirt Factor’ and ‘Set to sparkle’ which are catchy and simplistic, also suggesting it is aimed at young girls.

House Style- Bright colours are used throughout that page like pink and yellow which connote happiness, creating a positive atmosphere for the readers. The pink is a key colour throughout the magazine as it has been used on the cover also, and is extremely feminine.

Images- Lots of images are used on the page, mainly of fashionable clothes, perfume, and pop artists which immediately suggests that this magazine is aimed at a younger audience (girls) as they tend to be entertained via imagery. A image of the cover page is also used with arrows showing what page numbers the coverlines are on. This informs the reader and makes things easier and simple for the younger audience to read and follow.

Mode of Address- The mode of address us extremely cheesy, informal and colloquial. For example they say ‘Disco Diva’ , We love boys’ and ‘awww!’ which shows that the target audience must be quite young as the language used is quite simple and basic so that they can understand.

There is no ‘top of pops’ logo, editorial or ‘Contents’ masthead on the page which breaks conventions of a typical contents page. Alternatively to ‘Contents’ is ‘Inside the mag..’ which is easier for a younger target audience to understand as the language is more simplistic.

Page Numbers- The page numbers are really big compared to the size of the text next to it. This is to ensure that the readers can see it clearly and are able to locate the pages correctly. It is also in pink, which stands out against the plain background. The page numbers and the main coverlines are highlighted in yellow. This is because yellow is a bright bold colour that connotes summer and fun which will stand out against the white background, ensuring that it will catch the readers eyes.

Rule of Thirds- The contents page is split up into 3 columns so that the page looks more professional and organised. This follows the conventions of a contents page.

Sub-headings- The sub-headings on the contents page are in bold, to draw the readers eye’s to the most important sections of the page. The font is san-serif and has many swirls in it, suggesting that the target audience is for females.

Rule Of Thirds

Main Image- The main image is of a pop band which automatically suggests that the magazine is aimed at young girls interested in pop music. The image takes up over one entire page which follows conventions of a double spread page. The image of the pop boy band is very friendly as they are smiling and have direct eye contact with the readers making them feel invited and personal.

Background- The background is light blue with purple stars with pull quotes in them. By using these colours together connotes a winter and cold feel to the magazine, linking with winter monthly edition of ‘Top of the Pops.’

Mast Head- The masthead says’ One Direction Unwrapped.’ By using the word ‘Unwrapped’ connotes Christmas, and wrapping presents which adds to the winter feel of the double spread. By using a bow on top of the ‘w’ in ‘unwrapped’ adds to this feel too. The masthead is capitalized and is in purple which stands out against the light blue background. ‘Unwrapped’ is also in a bold, sans-serif font which creates a focal point as it is the biggest and boldest text on the page.

Stand First- The stand is a short summary of the interview and is written in a humorous manner in a way to attract and entertain the audience. By using phrases like ‘ding dong’ makes the audience want to read more as it is very informal and chatty.

Pull Quote- The pull quote are placed in purple stars which stands out against the block of text. The quotes are in a bold- sans-serif font which makes the readers want to read them as it looks interesting and creative.

Lure- There is a lure at the bottom of the page which tells the readers about a competition and the prizes they could win, relating to One Direction. There is images of the prizes which is used to attract them visually. ‘Win’ and ‘1D Goodies’ is written in a black, bold, sans-serif font which stands out against the light background, to ensure it grabs the readers eyes. The ‘W’ of ‘Win’ has a swirl in it, which suggests that the magazine is aimed at females as that font is quite girly and feminine.

The double spread is an Interview of pop boy band, One Direction. The page is divided into columns, following the Rule of Thirds convention, making the page look well organised. Mode of Address- The mode

of address is extremely colloquial and informal as they use words like ‘ding dong’ and ‘uh-oh!’ The context of the interview suggest the magazine is aimed at young girls as they talk about kissing and crushes which tends to be stereotypically associated with what young girls always talk about.Logo- There is a ‘Top of the Pops’ logo placed at the bottom of the main image to inform the readers of the name of the magazine.