Case Study of a Publishing House

 

Case Study of Publishing House- Bauer Media Group

This case study is based on Bauer media publishing house. I have chosen this publishing house because they publish a wide variety of magazines and do not only stick to one specific audience.

Bauer was founded in Hamburg, Germany and has expanded from there. Bauer is a family private owned publishing house which started up as a very small printing house since 1875 but has now grown into an international publishing house which operates in 15 different countries: Germany, USA, Spain, France, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Mexico, China, Russia, Slovakia, United Kingdom and Nigeria. Bauer is currently to largest publishing company in the UK. This is due to them publishing media about Women’s and Men’s Lifestyle, Music & Film, Specialist magazine markets, TV Listings, Puzzles and Women’s Weeklies.

Due to the expansion of the Bauer family business this meant that the company required a very large team of 6400 member of staff across the globe. All working in their chosen countries to run the publishing company. The Bauer publishing house is an example of business success, as the started off as a printing house and now own offices across the globe.

Bauer media started in the UK with the launch of Bella magazine [1987-present day]. Bella is a magazine targeted at the modern day woman which focuses on entertaining real life stories alongside celebrity gossip, practical lifestyle tips and advice for today’s modern woman. Bella has been around for a very long time and has an overall ACB of 245,286. Bauer them published another women’s weekly magazine, Take a Break. Take a Break appealed to many women and rapidly became a market leader. It has held a Number 1 status selling over 1 million copies a week.

Bauer also own the music magazines Q and Kerrang! Q is a music magazine which is published monthly in the United Kingdom which has a circulation of 130,127 [June 2007]. Q focuses on the indie, rock music genre. Kerrang! Is a music magazine which is published weekly, also in the United Kingdom. The total circulation is 134,000.The genre of Kerrang! Magazine is rock, heavy metal. Kerrang! appeals to a younger audience of 16-14 unlike Bella which is aimed at female adults. Bauer reaches out to many different people through the media they produce. This can also be said for the radio stations they own. Kiss 100 radio stations targets a younger audience who will most likely not listen to Magic 105.4 radio station.

Bauer owns radio stations such as Magic 105.4 and Kiss 100. The brands Bauer own do not appeal to a particular audience but branch out to both adults and young people. Magic and Kiss radio stations appeal to different audiences. Magic aims to lift the listener’s mood by playing classic and contemporary music to put a smile on their faces. Their core viewers are people who are comfortable in their own skin and are confident individuals within the family unit. The main listeners are 24-44 year olds, mainly women who appreciate the radios lack of clutter and quality programming. Magic believe they target a very wide audience as they appeal to working mums, housewives and young professionals. Kiss radio is very different to Magic Radio as it continuously evolves around the ever changing lifestyles of its UK 15-34 year old market. Its mission is ‘’never stand still’ which explains how Kiss continuously discovers new music and cool stuff from all over the world. Kiss ensures that its consumers are in control. Their listeners are able to interact with the programming of the radio station on television and online. The philosophy ‘for the people, by the people’ ensures this. Kiss’s music genre is different to Magic as they give them the best of dance, hip hop and R&B.

Bauer have many media platforms which appeal to a very wide audience. This is the reason why they have continued to grow. They publish media which can be read, watched and listened to. An example of this is TV Choice magazine, Box Television and Kiss100 Radio Station. This is what is different about Bauer as they venture into other media to reach out to as many potential consumers as possible. Bauer has continuously expanded throughout Europe and blossoming through their many media platforms.