What kind of institution might distribute your media product and why?

Four main companies distribute magazines in the UK, and this is called the oligopoly. The oligopoly consists of IPC, Bauer, Condé Nast and National Magazine Company.
IPC is a very large publishing company that deals with magazines such as Look, Nuts, Woman’s Weekly, and also NME. Trying to convince IPC to publish my magazine, Z magazine, would prove to be a slight problem as they already have a very well known music magazine within their company that would be strong competition for mine, so it would be a great risk. Also IPC are likely to have almost no interest in Z magazine, as they already have a large success with NME.
Bauer Media Group owns many forms of media such as radio, TV channels, etc. and also magazines. Bauer publishes magazines such as Closer, FHM, Heat, Q and Kerrang! To attempt to get my Z magazine published by Bauer Media would be a great challenge as they already publish two other very popular music magazines. Although Kerrang! isn’t anything like my magazine, Q magazine is quite similar to mine in style and in genre, so my magazine is likely to fall under the radar of the general public, and especially of my target audience, as Bauer do not need another music magazine and therefore will not spend the necessary time on it.
Condé Nast is an international publishing company, which publishes magazines such as GQ, Glamour, and Vogue. It is clear that this publishing company have more of a focus on fashion magazines rather than music magazines that would compete with my genre. However, this does not necessarily mean they are appropriate to publish Z magazine as they may be uninterested – fashion is clearly their main focus and they are even praised on the contribution to fashion that they make, by publishing magazines such as Vogue. Furthermore, they are likely to decline my magazine as they already have huge successes in the fashion industry.
The National Magazine Company, or Hearst Magazines, also publishes many fashion related magazines or simply those that attract women, such as Elle, Company, Cosmopolitan etc. Hearst are yet to publish a music magazine and so I believe that this would be my best choice of publisher. Although they aren’t experienced in publishing music magazines, they have brilliant success with magazines such as Elle which are incredibly popular, and so Z magazine is likely to have more success. Also, as Hearst don’t publish a music magazine yet there will be less competition amongst the company, again giving my new magazine more chance to thrive. I think that Hearst could benefit from taking on my magazine within their company and publishing it in future as it broadens their range of magazines.