Reader Profile Analysis

I am going to compare the reader profiles of two different music magazines. These magazines are NME and Word. They have two very different audiences and so their reader profiles are going to be very different. A reader profile is written by the magazine producers. They are mainly there for the advertisers, so that a product is advertised in a magazine where the target audiences are the same.

The NME reader profile is bright and colourful which immediately suggests a younger more visual orientated audience, where as, The Word is just plain writing in paragraph structure. This suggests a more educated, slightly older audience.

Word is aimed at males and males only, where as, NME is aimed at mainly males, 69% to be exact. This indicates to advertisers that it is best to advertise products that are targeted more towards males than females. Where Word uses “He”, NME uses “they” which shows NME has a wider audience in the sense of gender.

The age ranges are stated as Word being for 30-55 years and NME being for on average, 24 years. NME’s reader profile seems to be a lot more accurate than that of Word. This shows that NME’s advertisements will definitely relate to the target audience, however, it could prove harder for them to get advertisers willing to pay to show their adverts. The age range of the two magazines will show advertisers where to advertise though. For example, if a young indie band were touring, it is more likely to be advertised in NME, however, if there was a brand new plasma screen TV, it would be more likely advertised in Word.

The idea of what can be advertised and where continues into the theme of disposable income and technological capabilities. The Word reader is very much into technology and has a disposable income of £90 a month. The NME reader is more likely to have £120 per month. Where as the Word reader spends their money on books, music and films, the NME reader spends most of their money on audio equipment.

The leisure habits of the reader are made clear in Word. The reader has moved on from their younger years of listening to music constantly and now has a wider range of hobbies. These include new forms of technology and also books and film. The NME reader’s leisure habits are suggested to be in the form of shopping, as they like to dress well and also the use of the internet.

Overall, these two very different reader profiles will appeal to different advertisers. Reader profiles are important, and although I won’t need one as there will not be adverts in my magazine, I do need to clearly establish who my reader is and what they like to do, spend and listen to. Without this my magazine could end up as a miss-match of different things that each appeal to a different audience.

Word reader profile can be found at: http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/advertisers/reader
NME reader profile can be found at: http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:hkaBONybgfYJ:www.ipcmedia.com/mediainfo/nme.pdf+nme+reader+profile&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk