Daniel James

Homework Two – Institutions ResearchUsing a relevant music magazine complete research into the company that produces it.   You should aim to find out what brands they produce, what audiences they target, examples of cross-media ownership, and information about the ownership structure of the company, e.g. are they a subsidiary?

Q magazine

The publisher of Q is now Bauer Media Group who believe that "Q is the legendary monthly magazine which celebrates everything that’s great in rock and roll ".

Q was founded by Mark Ellen and David Hepworth and published under the EMAP umbrella at its launch in 1986. The founders believed there was nothing on the market for older music lovers – the audience that had the money to buy CDS – which were still a new technology – magazines and go to concerts.

EMAP, publisher of a vast array of magazines, ensured Q set high standards of photography and printing quality. EMAP sold many titles, including Q, to the Bauer Media Group in January 2008.

Ownership and structure of the company

Bauer Media is Europe’s largest privately owned publishing group. It is a German family company which began 138 years ago and has always carefully managed the management transition from one generation to another which has made it stable successful. They were the first company to produce a tv guide.

Since the early 1980s, publisher Heinz Heinrich Bauer has concentrated on the internationalisation of the media group. This was the time they bought many EMAP magazines. The foundation for successful expansion into foreign markets, however, was laid when Bauer brought into the American market. In the intervening years, the family-run business has become an international media group with 16 locations. The Bauer Media Group’s attractive media portfolio currently comprises approximately 570 popular magazines, more than 300 digital media outlets, and radio and TV stations in Germany, Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine, the UK, China and the US.

Now in its fifth generation, in November 2010 Heinz Heinrich’s daughter Yvonne assumed the management of the Bauer Media Group after joining the family business in 2005. Bauer is Europe’s largest privately owned publishing group.

Brands they produce

Bauer Media UK reaches over 22 million UK consumers every week.

Bauer Media's magazines have specialist titles for a wide range of interests from sport, and cars through to music and hobbies. They include popular titles such as Q and Heat through to more narrow titles such as Landrover International.

The portfolio includes

Vehicle magazines such as Car, Classic Cars, Car Mechanics and Practical Classics

Golf magazines Today's Golfer and Golf World Fishing magazines such as Angling Times, Trout Fisherman and

Trout and Salmon Celebrity magazines Heat, Closer and Grazia Music magazines Kerrang, Mojo and Q

Audiences targeted

Bauer produce such a wide variety of magazines that they cater for many different target audiences including teenagers and men and women of all ages with a massive range of interests. For example, the magazines for women target females at every stage of their life from Top Sante for health and well- being, Closer for celebrity gossip, Pregnancy and Birth and Mother and Baby through to Yours magazine for the over 50s.

Cross media ownership

As well as a vast publishing company, Bauer also launched into radio. In 1990 they acquired London dance station Kiss   FM (now called Kiss 100), followed by Liverpool's Radio City and later by TWC and the Metro Group. Then came the acquisition of Melody FM which was transformed into the market-leading Magic 105.4.

In 1996, they bought digital music TV channel The Box, as a route into the small screen business, which has grown into Box Television, a seven channel joint venture TV business with Channel 4.