A CASE STUDY

BACKGROUND DETAILS

• First published March, 1952

• It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998.

• NME stands for “New Musical Express”

• In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper.

• An online version of NME, NME.COM, was launched in 1996. It is now the world's biggest standalone music site, with over 7 million users per month.

NME was a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during

the 1980s

As with today’s NME, the colour scheme is dark, with red and black featuring strongly.

NME in July 1980

BACKGROUND DETAILS

• The name of the magazines is an acronym

‘NME’ suggests a more modern and no-

nonsense take on a national institution.

• The magazine has achieved variable success

over the years with sales rising and falling.

• It has tended to adapt to accommodate new

sounds on the rock/metal scene. This has

helped to increase sales in dark times.

However, it has received criticism for this.

NME! TODAY

• Issued weekly.

• Costs £2.20 per issue.

• Consists of approximately 73 A4 pages, produced on glossy, full colour paper.

• Follows a standard magazine layout, combining full colour images with bite-size snippets of text on some pages and full colour articles that combine image and text on others.

• NME Has its own website, TV channel and radio channel.

Inside NME

Full colour articles that combine

image with text for a more visually

appealing look. Some interview will

see full length images of artists or

seeing them performing.

TARGET AUDIENCE

• 16- 24 years old.

• 80% male, 20% female.

• Active music enthusiast and purchaser.

• Interested in computer games, film and TV, tattoos.

• Loyal to their friends and favourite bands, passionate about music, an individual who refuses to follow the crowd, youthful and fun.

• Sees NME as an authority on rock music and an educator.

CONTENTS

• Content is entirely devoted to music with

music/band news and articles, album

reviews, gig information and gig guides.

Quizzes and Letter pages are present too.

• Bands that commonly feature are: Green

Day, Oasis, Kasabian, The Killers, The Kaiser

Cheifs and many more.

• The magazine offers free posters, reflecting

the largely youth readership.

STYLE

• NME features a lot of iconography associated with indie/rock and the scene that surrounds it, e.g. tattoos, amps, dark make-up, electronic guitars.

• The magazine is visual, some image-heavy and some text heavy.

• The magazine features a lot of uppercase text in a distressed font.

• Red and black feature mostly in the magazine,

The magazine is

visual and image-

heavy with two skull

ring, one on each

hand.

Black and red feature

strongly as they linked

together nicely to grab

the attention of the

audience.

Content is related to

metal/rock music and

bands like the word

‘INSANE’ how it been

written and the bright

red colour.

MODE OF ADDRESS

• Casual, featuring informal words and

phrases that the TA might use.

• The tone of expression used by a young

fan of indie/rock is established.

• Friendly and down-to-earth, suggesting a

good, friend-to-friend relationship between

reader and magazine.

MODE OF ADDRESSFriendly, informal

mode of address…

Exclamatory phrases

to create a sense of

excitement that the

audience can share

in.

Abbreviated words to

create a more

casual, relaxed, snap

py tone to attract the

audience.

MODE OF ADDRESS

Examples of mode of address:

• ‘The return of Kasabian, inside their

Insane new album’.

• ‘One thump or two’

• ‘Rock’s Messiest Bust-ups’

• ‘Can Brandon find the plot in time for

Reading & Leeds?’

OWNERSHIP

• Owned by IPC Media

• ‘LOOK’ ‘NUTS’ ‘NOW’ ‘LIVING’ are owned and distributed by IPC

Media.

• The company also owns and distributes a number of magazines

aimed at audiences with niché interests, e.g. car enthusiasts and

those into fishing or photography.

• They engage with 26million UK adults - almost two thirds of UK

women and 42% of UK men.

• It draws on NME's heritage as a music authority to delight users with

a mix of news, opinion and artist interviews. NME.COM is where the

most passionate music fans on the planet come together.

• Constantly innovating across a variety of platforms, NME is

everywhere its audience wants it to be.

OWNERSHIP

Being owned by IPC Media is a good idea for NMEfor some reasons:

• The company is successful and experienced and knows which strategies to employ to increase sales.

• IPC owns a number of niché magazines, so understands audiences with specific tastes and interests.

• With Cycling Fitness and Rugby World amongst its repertoire, it knows how to successfully manage sport magazines and other magazine for other target audience.