Content Analysis and Target Audience

Over the previous weeks we have been looking at and analysing a range of music magazines. To give ourselves a more interesting comparison we chose music magazines that varied from each other. For example we looked at Kerrang, a commonly known heavy metal magazine, and compared this to Top of the Pops, a teens pop magazine. These two are very different from one another, and this gave us more to talk about, therefore a better comparison.

We have been analysing different types of music magazines. From this hoped to attain the target audience to each. We counted the number of advertisements included in each of the magazines and recorded data from each individual one.

We came to the conclusion that the target audience for 'Top of the Pops' is mostly girls. We were able to see this from the advertisements as many of them were for sanitary towels and make-up. Most of these items cost little so we concluded that the target audience is from a working class - middle class home. The films advertised are also aimed at young girls. This therefore shows that the targ

et audience is between 9-14.

This pie chart shows the amount of adverts under each category:

The target audience for NME is mostly older boys to young men (17-25/30). The average price range of the advertisements is £15, therefore aimed at people with a higher disposable income than 'Top of the Pops' buyers. The type of advertisements it includes enables us to be able to tell the target audiences' gender. As they are mostly video games and boy bands albums.
The demographics of the two magazines are quite opposite. 'Top of the Pops' demographic is girlie/pop. Any race would buy this magazine but possibly not girls for very religious homes as it includes pictures of semi-naked men. Its psychographics is mainstreamer 'girlie' girls. The demographic of 'NME' is rock/punk/indie british men with any income as the adverts are at a price range of a working mans income. The psychographics are artists (interest in music) and the creative alternatives.


This pie chart shows the relative popularity amongst men of the following magazines:

Comparison of NME reader profile

The reader profile for NME supports the target audience that we concluded to. It shows that 66% were male with an average age of 23. 91% of readers go to gigs often. This is evidence of the target audience having interests in music.