2 Reader Profiles

Reader Profile Analysis

The ‘Reader Profile’ of a magazine is there to entice people into reading them. If somebody sees the magazine and is unsure about whether to buy it or not they may look at the magazines website or do some research into the content. Whilst doing this if they come across the reader profile they have found the single most useful piece of advertising issued by the company, advertising the magazine to a particular group of people and generalising the reader into a positive peer group. The profile can come in various formats, either in the form of a block of descriptive text such as ‘Word’ or in bullet points with images such as ‘NME’.

Not only does the reader profile allow whoever is reading it the chance to relate to this ‘character’ it is describing, but it subconsciously offers this person the chance to become one of these people. Everything mentioned about ‘the reader’ is positive and shows the average reader of the magazine as somebody you would want to be. Anybody reading this therefore, is likely to be thinking, one of the following; “That sounds a bit like me”, “I Fancy a bit of that”, “Impressive people buy this magazine so I will”.

Word’s profile focuses on the income of the reader, their job type and how they spend their money on the music industry. It shows the reader as someone who is well off and spends plenty of their disposable income on music, DVDs and other technology. Anybody reading that, as a prospective buyer of the magazine will clearly want to be associated with people like that, whether they’re actually in that mould or not.

The 2nd paragraph however is the part that’s designed as something to relate to. The past of ‘the reader’ isn’t going to entice people who can’t relate to this particular youth like they might be enticed by the prospect of being perceived as rich. A music filled youth where any possible identity struggles were covered up by their particular genre of music or an unwavering addiction to a particular band of your era was what made you, you, however could be the reason someone buys this.

The next paragraph goes on with the personal theme, but this could entice people on a wider scale. Anybody who had a love of music when younger and is now developing into this world of technology with varying degrees of success where different devices work can relate to this to a point, but it really applies to people who are keeping their love of music alive whilst juggling work commitments and a family.

The last paragraph however goes back to describing the reader generally by showing them to be flexible and adaptable to modern life, while remembering their music based roots. This is how deep the magazine company feel they must go to achieve the best results from their reader profile.

NME have used a very different approach to their reader profile. Their aim is to show their reader as a very down-to-earth person, part of the ‘in-crowd’ and cool. There is a collage of images depicting an awful lot of every day items, often used by people who are aware of the modern world, such as hair-gel, an Xbox 360 and an iPod. People with these items and who shop in the shops show, for the labels highlighted are clearly in a position where they are attempting to create an image for themselves. NME feel by doing this, they’re adding their magazine to the list of must have items already mentioned.

It also throws some statistics at the readers; by saying how much the readers spend on clothes and shoes, as well as technological items such as Cameras and DVDs thus associating themselves further with things that are very much part of mainstream Britain today.

Whereas Word are trying to give people something to relate to in their reader profile, NME are attempting to show their magazine as a vital accessory for those with any sort of image to keep up.