IPC media

1. Find out who owns IPC media.

IPC is owned by Time Inc. which is the publishing sector of Time Warner Inc. which is one of the largest content companies in the world.

2. What other 'entertainment' interests does this company own?

It extends into online, television, cable VOD, satellite radio, mobile devices, events and branded products for example blackberry and iphone apps are one of the many components the company is involved in. Television networks, filmed entertainment and publishing are other sections of the industry.

3. Why might this company have bought IPC media? Benefits?

The IPC media company unit in the UK are read nearly 250 million times each month and by approximately 150 adults. It has a consumer market of around 70% of females in the UK and 50% of the men. It also covers around 60% of the online population. As IPC media is so diverse within digital and print, it offers something for everyone. IPC is very much at the heart of the cultural life within the UK. All of these points make them very attractive for companies such as Time Inc. to get involved. Also, IPC media are big in the magazine industry and can offer Time Warner more synergy to advertise their films and other products they may have.

4. Are there any potential drawbacks for the consumer/society when big corporations own a large share of the media market?

There are some drawbacks with big countries such as Time Warner Inc. owning a large part of the media market because they are then more able to dictate the prices that are on the market, there is no competition if they own a majority of the market which may mean standards may drop, and also all the brands under the same company will have a lot of similarities which may get boring for the consumer.

How has the magazine industry responded to developments in new media technologies in terms of the distribution of content since the 1990's?

Since the 1990's, when the media first started to broaden it's range of distribution onto the internet with the use of online and CD-ROM magazines, it has expanded further in many ways due to the increase in technology available. From 2001 onward, media use in the magazine industry has led to many new ideas and developments. In 2001, the media content was introduced to the use of video content online, which brought a whole new level to the way they wanted to intrigue their audience. Also in 2003, the use of text messaging was then brought in, another way to reach the market audience. This, in 2006, then led magazines to enable their consumers to download the magazine onto their phones, as the rise in technologies of phones meant they were able to access things like this easily at the click of a button. With internet use continually expanding, big sites such as YouTube play a massive part in the advertising of magazines and giving magazines such as the Radio Times more content to include in like coverage of films and online podcasts. At the end of 2006, the first completely digital magazine was introduced - Monkey from Dennis. At the beginning of 2007, online magazines had been introduced to other audiences, Jellyfish was launched for teenagers, and although the advertising revenue for these were growing, there was thought that these had no perfect business model yet. With the rise of channels on TV (Sky and Free-view), magazines have moved in here as well which the production of NutsTV etc. 2008 saw the digital magazine aspect finally become established properly, which led companies such as Exact Editions and Zinio to launch new titles (as many as 850 for Zinio) to become available to read and buy online. As well as the regular production and selling of paper magazines, this also become common for digital magazines and fortnightly issues of Gizmo from Dennis and many other things have appeared. The latest update in technology which has caused development in the magazine industry is the manufacture of Umee, which allows content from sites like Facebook and Twitter to transfer information to other social utilities, like the iPhone. This has allowed the industry to create app's for magazines like NME where users can effectively download and view music, videos etc from the online magazine, straight to their phone.