Discuss the ways in which media products are produced and distributed to audiences, with in a media area you have studied.

In recent times the landscape of media has changed a significant amount and the ways in which media products are produced and distributed has also changed significantly. The main factor that I believe that has influenced this is the sudden increase in new media technology in the last decade. An example of a NMT that has shown its impact is Apple’s Newsstand, which since its launch in October 2011 has sold over 4 million digital copies on its mobile devices. The case studies that I have studied are Cosmopolitan and men’s health. They have used a variety of NMT’s which I will discuss later but also in recent times they have increased their target audience for example they now sell “cosmo on campus” and “cosmo for guys” which has increased demands for the companies leading them to make more money for the company.

In contemporary society it is arguable that NMT is a big factor of our lives with an average of 2.6 million minutes being spent on Facebook every day. With 6/10 of us having mobile phones on us at all times. This tells us that we are becoming more and more dependent on these new technological products. Companies such as hearst media have synergized with another conglomerate being apple and allow apple to sell their magazines on newsstand which allows more people to buy their magazines.

New media technology is also important to media companies as it allows them to fulfill the audience theories which helps them ultimately to gain more readership and maintain them for a long period of time for example cosmo do what they do well as they have for the past 38 years on average sell 400,000 copies each month. The NMTs help as they help the audience out for example Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs is an audience theory that the magazine industry uses. As it says that humans need a sense of belonging and cosmo and heatst do this by converging with the web 2.0 and setting up accounts on twitter and Facebook where people can comment and discuss things with similar interest to make them feel apart of something bigger a community.

There have been development of hardware and software which has changed the way audiences access their content. For example developments such as smart phones and tablets means that they can get their information from these mobile devices and this satisfies the uses and gratification theory of inform and educate. 

Another audience utopian theory is to bring the audience from loneliness to social networking which these magazines do through converging with web 2.0 and create websites such as "cosmo the one" which is a online dating website.

This is ways that media products are distributed and marketed to its audience and tells us how dependent we are on new media technology. 

How Hearst Media Uses NMT's

Hearst media uses a variety of NMT's within their magazine industries for a variety of reasons. 


They use NMT's to promote their magazine through a variety of ways such as when browsing the web they will create pop ups which will make the viewer of the browser click on the link which promotes the magazine. They also promote their magazines through adverts whether it be on other websites, on the side of billboards, TV adverts, advertising in other magazines or even on applications on your phone where when you go on an application which is relevant to the magazine their will be an advert that might pop up. Also they use the new "google ads" to promote their magazines.


Hearst media have to do a lot to engage their readers in order to maintain a regular readership and to do this they need make the most of NMT's as eric Schmidt said "in the face of new technology those who adapt not only survive, they Prosper" which means Hearst media have to use a lot of it to engage and maintain their readers. Which i believe they do perfectly; they have got applications on a variety of platforms, websites to read from, twitter and Facebook to have discussions and and they even put most their magazines in apple's Newsstand which makes it incredibly easy to get from anywhere in the world as long as you have internet access and with over 50 million iPhone and iPad users it makes it incredibly easy for them to maintain reader and they engage the readers by giving out free stuff with issues and keeping their stories up to date and they only discuss contemporary issues. 


I don't get " deliver specific audiences to advertisers" 


They use NMT's alongside the three audience theories in order to fulfil the audiences needs. The first theory to look at is "uses and gratification" theory by Blumier and Katz. Which suggests that we chose media for 5 different reasons the first is to identify and Hearst do this by having forums where people can talk to people about stuff they need talking about. Another is to inform and educate which Hearst do really well they have applications with sections you can click on to get more information about the section. thirdly to entertain the websites have videos that will entertain its viewer. fourthly to help the reader escape from reality which Hearst do really well as they offer articles and games and interactive elements within their applications and websites and finally an element of social interaction which Hearst media do well through the medium of twitter and Facebook.
The second theory is richard dyer's "utopian solutions" which suggests that media will be attended to by the audience if it offers them four things; firstly take them from isolation to community. Hearst does this through twitter and Facebook where people can discuss the same topics and feel as they are a part of a wider community. Secondly to take the audience from confusion to clarity they do this by offering the audience a variety of articles on a variety of platforms which makes it quicker to understand what they are confused about. thirdly to take the audience from boredom to excitement they do this through their various applications such as games and Cosmo even have their own dating website. finally they take their audience from loneliness to social networking which Hearst magazine does by allowing the readers to interact with each other on twitter and Facebook. 
The third audience theory is maslow's heirachy of needs in which lifestyle magazines present themselves in 2 of the stages. The sense of belonging which heart media do well as by reading the magazines and socially interacting it gives the reader a sense of belonging. the next stage is self esteem Hearst gives the reader to improve their self esteem by making them feel better through reading the magazines or talking to someone about it on the many forums. 


Finally Hearst media use a lot of NMT's to distribute their magazines. They have invested in the latest printing machines and send them around the world using airplanes, lorries ships etc and they distribute their products through technology such as apples newsstand and through online magazine readers. 

Focus on Men's Health

Men's health is arguable that it is a brand in itself as it is all for the male species it gives them tips and advice on almost every little aspect of their lives. Even on the front cover of the november 2011 the sub headings range from "how to be the perfect athlete" to "how to get away with an office fling"


The magazine promises to offer its reader the following every month: 

• Fitness
• Health
• Style
• Gear
• Sex & Relationships
• Weight-loss
• Grooming
• Food & Nutrition

As i mentioned before the articles that are published within the magazine range a lot as it gives men advice on each and every aspect of the life. The contents page shows the following articles that are in the november 2011 issue of mens health: 

• Earn a 9% bonus
• winters sexiest tech
• he built his body you can too 
• lose your gut
• never get the flu again 
• burn fat 24 hours a day 
• build the worlds most compact gym 
• slash 2kg with a bacon sandwich. 

Like cosmo gives advice to women on how to live their lives Mens Health gives men advice to live their lives.






The target audience for mens health is working class men who want to keep fit and have healthy life style however some teenagers tend to read the magazine as well. The magazine offers gratification to its readers using the uses and gratification theory. They off information and education such as articles like "the ten minute 6 pack work out". They can identify with the magazine as it involves a lot of case studies about men. They can be entertained with articles about women such as "touch her here". They can socially interact on social networking sites. They can escape their normal lives by reading articles on health sex and relationships.   


Natmeg-Rodale has done well in maintaining mens health as a magazine as it uses the correct ways that attracts the viewer by using different NMTs to keep the viewers interacted and interested in the magazine. 
It is the worlds leading mens magazine as it provides the reader with exactly what they do and they offer their products in a variety of ways for their audiences. 

How many different ways cosmo is available in different digital media forms

They have a published cosmo in a variety of different digital media forms.

They have the main one which is the actual website which is www.cosmopolitan.co.uk. 

They have cosmo on ipad and iphone applications and on newstand. 

They have a digital issue of the magazine that audience can download from www.zinio.com

They also have mobile websites for the magazine. 

How Hearst Media use NMT in producing COSMO

They appeal to their audience in a variety of ways using especially using NMTs they use variety of different ways to do this. They use facebook and twitter to appeal to their audience as they have like sneak peaks of the actual magazine by having discussions on these social networking sites. They also have created applications for mobile devices this appeals to the audience as it offers them alternatives to the hard copy of the magazine and can make it easier to carry around.

They engage the audience in similar ways as well. They use Facebook to promote specific things on their page such as new clothing or advice and stuff on which the reader can post comments and discuss. Their twitter allows the audience to have discussions and the apps are interactive so the audience and engage by interacting with the app.

They promote and market the magazine in the same way really. They use the discussions on twitter to persuade the audience to buy it as you have to most of the time read an article on the magazine in order to have the discussion on twitter. Facebook promotes the magazine as it shows the audience what to look forward to in the magazine and what is going to be on it.

They also do a good job in maintaining their audience as for the past 38 years they have had an average of 400,000 copies sold a month. They do this by making the most of technological advances so by using social networking and are really quick to make the most of technology such as they were really quick to make the most of NEWSTAND etc. 

Audience Gratifications And Utopian Solutions That Cosmo Offer.

Cosmo is a market leading magazine and it offers its audience a whole load of gratification and utopian solutions to its audience. 

One of the main gratification theory is to inform and educate its readers. Cosmo do this in a grfeat variety of ways they have lots and lots of articles informing its readers about relationships to the latest fashion trends. An article that supports my statement is in the november 2001 issue they did an article called "Never be tagged in the same look twice". This article particularly looked at the latest fashion trends and also tells its readers where they may be able to go purchase the items of clothing that they are talking about which makes the reader feel better about themselves as they know what the latest fashion is and where they can acquire them. 


Another main gratification theory is to identify with the reader. They do this to make the reader feel like they are being addressed directly and this creates a relationship between the magazine and the reader the reader which will help both the magazine company and the reader as the reader will go buy more and more issues as they feel that the advice is helping and feel like they are being addressed directly and it helps the magazine company as they get profit from selling magazine to its readers. They do this by using the "Mode of Address" so they use "personal pronouns" to address the reader so talking to them and associating them within the article. This makes the reader fell good about themself as they feel they are being talked to directly. 


Another gratification theory that the industry use is to entertain the reader. They do this to uplift the readers mood and make them feel better or to put them into a better mood. They do this in a variety of ways and concepts for example in the november 2011 issue there is an article called "X-Factor on the couch" this article allows the reader to relive the main moments of the past x factor series and entertains the audience with texts and edited pictures from the show. 


Another gratification that is to offer the read to escape their normal lives as sometimes life can be stressful and the magazine offers the reader a getaway from reality to a world of its own and by the magazine using "personal pronouns" it makes it more personal and the magazine produces articles such as "inside men's mind" this allows women to fantasise about men and "escape" their normal lives. 


The last gratification theory that the industry uses is the one that allows social interaction so the reader can read around the article then go and discuss it with her friends etc. The magazine allows this to happen by posting articles such as "drive your man wild" this will allow the reader to be a) entertained and b) allows the reader to go talk to friends about the article and have a common point of interest. and allows social interaction to happen. 


The industry also use richard dyers utopian solutions theory which consists of the following: 


One of the theory is to get the reader from Isolation -> community this allows the reader to read an article then go talk about it with friends which means they have a common talking point and can feel apart of a community. like i mentioned before the article "drive your man wild" will give the reader something to talk about with friends and feel a part of a community. 


Another theory is to get the reader form Confusion -> Clarity this allows the reader to read an article that they might have been confused with the topic but the topic clarifies them and they now understand what to do in certain situations. and article that shows this is "Inside mens mind" this article allows women to help understand how the mans mind "works"


Another theory is to get the reader from Boredom -> Excitement this allows the bored reader to be entertained and excited from reading an article with in the magazine. A example of an article that does this is "when you wanna bitchslap his mum" this article will entertain and excite its reader. 


The final utopian solution theory is to get the reader from loneliness -> social networking. The industry does this by using synergy to work with twitter so after the reader has read an article they can discuss it with similar people on the medium of twitter which allows the to interact socially online.  

Introduction to Cosmopolitan

Cosmo case study

intro to cosmopolitan.

Manoraj Sivantharajah

Þ   Cosmo say that their unique selling point (USP) is that “cosmo is the sex, love, life, & relationship bible”

Þ   The magazine promises the following to its reader every month:

o   Intimacy & warmth

o   Advice she trusts

o   Real & honest sex and relationship reports

o   Instructional sex advice

o   Inspiring real life stories

o   Fashion for all body shapes and budgets

o   Reports on issues that affect YOU and help you live the life you want

o   The latest health & diet news

o   The best beauty coverage

o   Under the skin of A list celebrities

o   That’s me – Cosmo really knows what’s going on in my life and how I can be the best I can be

o   A sense of humor

Þ   Cosmopolitan has various different editorial sections which include the following areas:

o   Men & Sex

o   Relationships

o   Shopping & Fashion

o   Beauty

o   Real Life

o   Health & wellbeing

o   Confidence & life coaching

Þ   Every magazine have their own target audience like all the companies in the world in the magazine industry this is called a “reader profile” the reader profile for Cosmo is:

“She is 18-35, single or loved up! An unpretentious girl next door with a host of dreams, ambitions and aspirations and is determined to be a success in life. Relationships are the most important aspect of her life – whether it’s with men, her sister, friends or her mum.”

Þ   Here are the vital statistics surrounding the Cosmopolitan magazine.

o   The circulation of the magazine is 386,852

o   The readership is 1,571,000

o   Women aged 18-34 is 489,000 (jan-june2011)

o   The median age of the reader is 28 (jan-june 2010)

Cosmo also works in other areas with in the magazine; alongside men’s health they run a dating service called “cosmo’s the one’” and they run their own shopping website called “cosmoshop.com”

Þ   Cosmo also run a free magazine called “Cosmo on Campus” ‘Cosmo on Campus,’ is a new extension of the Cosmopolitan brand with content aimed at the student population. The 56-page magazine, printed on improved news print paper, launched in October with a print run of 250,000 copies. It is distributed at 65 universities across the UK by hand-picked Cosmopolitan ‘Brand Ambassadors’

Þ   Cosmo also use a lot of technical convergence as they use twitter and facebook pages to get to and appeal to the audience.

Þ   Their website gets 765,880 visitors a month on average.

Þ   Over the past year the visitor percentage has increased by 88%.

Þ   There are 183,000 community members on their website.

Þ   On facebook they have over 5000 fans and in twitter they have over 28000 followers.

Þ   The user profile for the website is “She is 16-35, single or loved up! An unpretentious girl next door with a host of dreams, ambitions and aspirations and is determined to be a success in life. Relationships are the most important aspect of her life – whether it’s with men, her sister, friends or her mum”

Þ   The website like the magazine has its editorial section as well:

o   Ultimate relationship and sex advice

o   Men, Men, Men

o   Style Inspiration

o   Expert Beauty Tips

o   A confidence and passion for life

  The average age of the website visitor is 25 and the average salary of them being £38,914 (nov 07)