Industry Research

  

 

Industry - Who are Bauer?

 

Heinrich Bauer Publishing, trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Hamburg. It operates worldwide and owns more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations, as well as print shops, postal, distribution and marketing services. (Wikipedia) 

Bauer media reaches over 22 million adults in the UK alone. This is through a range of different media products spanning magazines, radio television and digital media platforms. It was founded in 1875 and as of 2020 has an annual revenue of 2.24bn euros. Its CEO and 85% owner is Yvonne Bauer, the fifth generation of the Bauer family to be at the helm of the company.

Their brands include household names like, Closer, Grazia, Greatest Hits Radio and Kiss FM, as well as more niche titles such as Land Rover Owner International and Practical Sportsbikes. This range allows Bauer to access a huge audience, which it can sell to advertisers, who through both mass and niche brands can target the very audiences that they want to sell to.

 

This reliance on advertising and consumer loyalty means that Bauer brands have to be safe with their content, and cannot take risks in fear of consumer backlash and advertising boycotts, which would significantly affect their revenue.

Form - What is the purpose of a cross-media production?

In the modern, social-media age, cross-media products are essential in keeping print magazines alive. The combination of a magazine and its website can help to keep audiences interested in a time where similar content is more and more readily available on social media, and also encourage new readers who are less likely to buy a print copy, to read the magazine online.

 

In the case of Closer magazine, a Bauer celebrity and real-life title, between April 2019 and March 2020, 2.5 million individuals were reached by the print title or its website. (Statista) On its website, Bauer media says "Closer Online delivers the latest news, features and entertainment updates. Providing expert opinion and commentary alongside the inside scoop on the day’s events, it brings Closer readers the first look at the best pictures and the most current updates on the most provocative stories of the day. Whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or Closeronline.co.uk itself, our audience is opinionated, responsive and highly engaged." (Bauer Media) 

The most important element in a magazine and accompanying website is brand synergy. All good magazine websites feature the same masthead and branding features as the magazine itself, as well as showcasing the magazines content and providing online exclusives, to encourage readers of the physical product to also visit the website regularly and become more involved with the brand.

Genre - What is a real-life story magazine?

Real-life story magazines are almost all aimed at women, with titles such as That's Life, Take a break, Closer and Cosmopolitan among the most famous. They very often combine real-life stories with other segments including fashion, home and celebrity news. This allows them to sell their audience to fashion and beauty companies for advertising, which is essential to their bottom line.

They often carry sensationalised stories, with headlines such as; "Mum SEDUCED my MAN as our baby DIED" (That's Life) and "My body overhaul left me 2 hours from death" (Closer) Such titles appeal to an audience that wants to be emotionally engaged by the content that they read. However, because of this, real-life magazines have created a reputation for being low-brow and tacky.

Stories are often sent in by the readers themselves, which helps real-life magazines appeal to their audiences by representing the people who read them, this helps the readers to feel like they are part of a community and builds brand loyalty, though some may argue that they reinforce negative stereotypes of women.

Conventionally, real-life story magazines look busy and carry many stories on the front page, with bright colours such as pink, yellow or red being the focus. These all allow this type of magazine to stand out amongst others on the rack, but can seem a little dated. Bauer's real-life titles tend to appeal to women in their 30s and above and 70% of Closer readers have been purchasing the magazine for 3 years or more. This level of brand loyalty is essential to the genre's success, but as a result of sticking so closely to these conventions, real-life magazines struggle to capture the attention of a younger audience.