IPC research task information

Question 1- What types of magazine and target audiences has IPC been associated with over
the years?
Answer 1- When the International Publishing Corporation Ltd was created in the later
1800s with the 3 leading magazine publishers it released a number of specific magazines
which targeted a very niche market, which were all about the information and activity of
certain past times and hobbies. These magazines included the Horse and Hound, Cycling
Weekly, Shooting Times and Amateur Photographer. All of these past times and
hobbies are very male dominated, this is because at a time when men were more powerful
in society, with women tended not to work and stayed at home and as a result not earning
any money. Furthermore it was seen as inappropriate for women to partake in these past
times during a rather patriarchal society. Because of these factors the target audience for
gender was predominantly, if not all male based. These magazines were only target to a
particular section of the male population though. This is because hobbies such as hunting,
cycling, photography and yachting were very prestigious at the time as you needed a lot of
money to take part in these activities, and therefore the readers had to be quite rich
meaning that the magazines targeted rather rich, upper class men. The lower or middle
class men both couldnt take part in the activity as they couldnt afford it (or werent
allowed) but also only upper class men could afford to buy the magazine on a monthly or
sometimes weekly basis. This is because they had the disposable income to spend on these
luxury purchases, whereas poorer people didnt have the money to buy these magazines.
This means that the magazines the IPC created had a very focused niche market for its
magazines and had a very small target audience in upper class men which was appropriate
for the time, but as society developed started to expand.
By the early 1900 the IPC had adapted its magazine range with the increase in popularity of
different activities for example with the increase in popularity of water based activities
meant the release of Yachting Monthly and motor boat like before this was targeted at
upper class males who had the financial capability to partake in these activities. But the IPC
also started taking into account the interests of people from different locations with the
release of Golf monthly in Scotland. The release of the first women weekly magazine
Womens weekly in 1911. This was because of women becoming more powerful and
equal in society to men. This magazine was targeted to house women who looked after the
house while the man was out earning the money which was a very typical of the time. This
magazine contained information on how to look after the house and garden which was the
general pass time of women for the time. This created a new found market for womens
magazine targeting different woman interests over the next 30 years which meant the
release of Ideal Home, Homes and Gardens, Women and home and Womens own.
This market change was influenced by womens more influential role in society and the step
away from a patriarchal society. Also the outbreak of war meant that most men were

shipped abroad to fight leaving women to look after the house and left them to buy the
magazines. These women weekly magazines also helped distribute information about the
war from the government to the female population.
Because of the new introduction and increase in popularity of media such as music and TV
there were new magazines such as NME and TV Times to satisfy those interested in this new
expanding media.
As time progressed the popularity of sport meant the release of magazines such as Soccer
World, Shoot! and Rugby World. The popularity of football was generally created by
Englands world cup win in 1966. These magazine releases generally targeted the general
male population of all ages as sports such as rugby and football where the main pastime of
the male population.
These new releases generally broke the target audiences for these magazines into the
middle and working class. This is because the genre and subject of the magazine normally
contained activities in which these classes were able to enjoy themselves. Furthermore as
the disposable income of these classes rose, they were more able to afford the magazines
on a regular basis this opened up a new gap in the market for the IPC to exploit.
From then on the new IPCs publications have generally moved away from a high end target
audience as now most people would be able to afford magazines regularly and there are far
more people in the middle/working class than just in the upper class. This led to the
creation of magazines such as Practical Parenting, Wedding and Home, Chat and
Mizz. This targets middle and working class population.
In the improved technology, magazine publications from the IPC have been allowed to
expand beyond just the magazine itself. For example NME magazine was the first magazine
to get its own website nme.com. This allowed and expansion of the target audience to
people who were unable to get the magazine where they lived specifically.

Question 2- Why might IPC be an appropriate publisher for a new music magazine?
I think the IPC will be a good publisher for a new magazine because of their great experience
in identifying a target audience and finding a gap in the market. This has proven with the
success of magazines such as NME. With the massive audience that NME has by introducing
a sister magazine of a different genre it will get massive support in advertising from NMEs
image. The creators of NME have consistently kept a consistent audience base since 1952
which proves they are able to keep with popular trends and fashions and give the target
audience what they want which can be carried over to a new magazine.

Question 3- What sorts of genres of music/types of music would they be likely to publish?
I believe that the IPC would have potential to create a new magazine with an indie/rock
genre. This is because with the unmeasured success on NME which has an indie/rock
included within it, the creators have the knowledge of current bands, events and how to

create a magazine like this. Furthermore they will already have strong relationships with
bands, promoters, venues, artists, managers and other influencing groups in this genre
meaning it would be easy for the them to gain important interviews and key info for the
magazine.