The NRS

I visited the NRS website as part of my research. It allowed to to gain information that I can compare.

The NRS (national readership survey) is useful as it gives information of a range of publications. It can show how many people read specific magazines and what social grade they come from.

The music magazine results (extracted from the NRS readership results)

However, the NRS does not always give perfect information.

• The range of audience that it includes is very large. Between 15 and 34 catagory there is a significantly small cap when compared with its 35+ category. This, therefore gives inaccurate information as there are more people who would fit into the 35+ category and so the results cannot be accurately compared.  A similar issue applies to the social grade range which is also large and therefore doesn't give a clear indication of the exact audience. 
• Additionally, the NRS is not able to collect information from everybody, this means that once magazine could have many more readers that are not included in the results. 

What about me?

Using the results above I can see that more ABC1 purchased magazines. This allows me to conclude that my target audience will be ABC1's, suggesting that they have a disposable income which makes it more likely that they will regularly purchase my magazine. 

These results also allow me to see that, on average, more 15-34 year olds purchased magazines. This tells me that to ensure a higher success rate I should aim my magazine at audiences between 15 and 34. 

The results show that Q and Mojo have higher audience of 35+. Therefore, as an addition to my research, I will compare Q to another magazine with a lower target audience to see what is different. This will allow me to establish the desirable tone and content for my magazine. 

Monthly or not Monthly?

 This is additional information that may be taken into consideration. This could effect my USP.

These statistics shows that more people purchase weekly magazines than monthly ones. However there is a higher percentage of online downloads of the magazine for monthly copies.

I am not considering doing an online magazine; therefore in order to raise my sales a weekly magazine appears to be more appropriate.
However doing a monthly issue would be cheaper and could create a larger 'buzz' than a weekly magazine.