IPC Media - Case Study

IPC Media Case Study

History of the Company

• The International Publishing Co-operation was founded in 1963, following the merging of 3 major publishers. IPC magazines was creating 5 years later, in 1968, however each of the three companies already had existing magazines which were then produced under the new IPC name. 
• IPC was created from three existing companies, George Newnes, Odhams Press and Fleetway Publications, each being founded in 1881, 1890 and 1880.
•   Eight further IPC titles that are still thriving today were launched in the late 1800s: Country Life, Horse & Hound, Shooting Times, Yachting World, Amateur Gardening, Cycling Weekly, Amateur Photographer and The Railway Magazine
•  The first of IPC's four traditional women's weeklies, Woman's Weekly, launched in November 1911 under the editorial banner "our motto - practical and useful". The same year, golfers north of the border got the first copies of their own new title, Golf Monthly.
• In 1940, a key wartime role was played by IPC's women's weeklies, keeping up the morale of Britain's women and supplying an essential information service on behalf of the Government. Many of the Woman covers from the wartime years are regarded as classic works of art in their own right, while wartime Woman's Own covers played their own part in rallying women to the wartime cause. 
• In 1952, one of IPC's biggest names, The New Musical Express was first published, accompanying the upserge of the music scene at the time. 
• In 1963, IPC was born following the merging of the three major publishers of the 1800-1900s, and former competitors were suddently all working together under names such as Ideal Home, Home and Garden, Woman and Womans Own.
• in 1996, Shoot! was first published to target the excited market of football fans following Englands World Cup Victory.
• The women's weeklies go into overdrive, with IPC acquiring Here! from Gruner & Jahr and merging it intoNow, launched in 1996.
•  IPC Magazines is sold to Cinven for £860m in 1998, one of the largest management buyouts in UK history.
• NME becomes the first major UK music title to get its own internet site - nme.com - destined to go on to become Europe's most popular music website.
• Time Warner acquires IPC Media for a cool £1.15bn in October 2001 - the biggest magazine deal ever seen in the UK and the biggest transatlantic media deal of our time
•  ignite! launches Nuts, the world's first men's weekly magazine, in January 2004. Backed by an £8 million marketing investment, it's the biggest launch in IPC's history.
•  In January 2010, IPC Media restructured around three key audience groups: men, mass-market women and up-market women.

IPC Media Brands

These are all the brands that IPC Media currently is behind, the largest of which being the TV Choice, and gossip magazines, such as Chat. These magazines have highest circulation as they are so cheap, however magazines with more niche markets are also bringing in a considerable amount of money due to the fact that there are less produced for this particular area, for example, cycling magazines or camping magazines, both types are published by IPC. the company can therefore charge more for brands like these as there is less options for readers, so specialised magazines can bring in the same amount of profit with less circulation and readership.

Current IPC News

• Marie Claire celebrates it 25th anniversary by publishing a 430 page issue, the largest in 7 years
• Feel Good Food is introducing a new line exclusively for Tescos, 'Feed Good Food- Eat Smart'
• Essentials is offering its first interactive cover, giving readers the chance to be the cover star
• NME refurbishment, first brand make over under new editor Mike Williams