Target market for 2000AD

[Demon Chicken]

I was thinking the other day, who are Rebellion marketing 2k at?  I suppose the most obvious answer would be "the fans", but when we look at it, how many "hardcore" fans are there?  What about when this readership gets older and slowly dies out?  Then we come to the Meg, at the moment a much better stand alone comic that is not 2k, but has links with it.  Then EEs which as the latest Meg tells us, going to be used for reprint material.
Now surely for either 2k or the Meg to survive, they have to increase their readership outside of the "hardcore" fan base, but personally I don't see how this is going to happen if they keep returning to "old" characters and, without wanting to stir a hornets nest, have the readership complain about the majority of "new" concepts that are introduced and argue for the return of old strips, SD & Robohunter for example.  The Meg on the other hand seems to iduce much less complaints which the introduction of relativly new material, aside from the obvious complaints about "too much reprint material", recently we've seen the introduction of articles in the Meg which I think strengthens it's independant nature allowing it to stop hanging onto the shirt tails of the weekly.
I suppose what I'm trying to get at here is which should be used to tempt in new readers?  Obviously 2k is the "brand", but unfortunately has a very limited market due to it's clique-ness(sp?) and the fact that it serialises stories.  One suggestion that's been put forward before would be to have more pages and more strips or less strips same pages etc.  Surely a much simpler solution would be to stagger the stories a bit more allowing for more points to jump on rather than the start of spring/summer/etc assault?  The Meg seems to avoid this by having the larger page count and so having the ability to have shorter stories mixed in with longer ones.
Then there's the old argument about nudity/sexual content and swearing.  If the 2k "brand" wants to appeal to the teen/adult market that's ok, but surely some thought should be towards the kids market where, as has been said, there are only about 3/4 comics that are not tied in to TV shows/movies/toys.  I'm sure someone said on the board at some point that they let their kids read the prog but not the Meg because of the difference in "adult" content.  If we look back at the history of the whole of 2k we see that earlier stories managed to avoid these things since they were aimed at kids, more recently more adult themes crep in as society changed and the readership grew up.  Now all this is fair and well, but to the parents out there would you like a 7/8/9 year old kid to read a comic that has a picture of a fully naked woman in it, as we saw in 13 a few years back?  Then we move on to other more kid friendly stories like Bek & Kawl with their cartoon-y art.

Sorry if I come across as prudish/mad/rambling here I'm just putting forward some ideas that have been kicking about in my head for a while.

It might be nice if we had some sort of "mission statement" of what sort of comic 2k & the Meg were trying to be as sometimes it seems like they're trying to appeal to both the adult & kids markets but never really succeding at either.  Once they have a specified direction maybe then it would be easier to increase the readership have a specific demographic to aim the advertising at?


Obviously I have far too much time on my hands to come up with this stuff.  However, thoughts/comments would eb appreciated.
DC

[Bico]

I agree with you, DC.  I think 2000ad was stronger when it was aimed at kids, but had elements slipped into it that appealed to adults.  The more overtly mature the material appears, the less likely it seems to appeal to younger readers and the parents who are buying these comics for them.
Part of the problem is that the comics market in Britain is predominantly aimed at children.  Marvel reprints do a good trade, despite being rather dull.  2000ad should be aimed at as broad a market as possible, because the hardcore fans will stick with it through thick and thin, a few experimental strips here and there wouldn't go amiss - whether or not you actually LIKE Bec and Kawl, you have to wonder who it's aimed at based on what tooth was publishing around the period it appeared.  One strip every week that tries something different is a good idea, and there's not much to lose at this point if we're getting adaptations of Rebellion games foisted upon us - World War Zero is advertising, not storytelling, and I'm surprised it's taken Rebellion this long to start ruining the book, but what the hell.  It's their money.

[The Amstor Computer]

"One strip every week that tries something different is a good idea, and there's not much to lose at this point if we're getting adaptations of Rebellion games foisted upon us - World War Zero is advertising, not storytelling, and I'm surprised it's taken Rebellion this long to start ruining the book, but what the hell. It's their money."

Ruining it? Bollocks.

I don't particularly want to see WW0 in the comic, but it seems to be fairly low-key compared to something like Wardog (which, funnily enough, appeared in the Meg not long after Rebellion took over...) and I don't see it as the beginning of a flood of Rebellion game tie-ins.

[VampiraJen]

What about when this readership gets older and slowly dies out?


surely some time off and

a) we'll be dead so who cares?

and

b) will 2th last that long.  as much as i like it, nothing lasts for ever.  it WILL end at some point.  just not soon, i hope....

[Bico]

I'm just saying that Rebellion will eventually go for a little synergetic marketing, and it's to be expected sooner or later.  I'm not sure that they have any interests in the British comic-book market beyond 2000ad and spin-off material, which makes the aquisition seem a little ill-advised on a financial level, as there has to be some growth on the investment to see a return that makes their initial purchase worthwhile.  The DC deal is a start, but I'd be kidding myself if I tried to pretend that multi-part adaptations of Rebellion games aren't on the cards at some stage.

[The Amstor Computer]

It works the other way as well, Boy - perhaps you should be thinking more about Rebellion using 2K as a source of material for games, rather than as a place to dump shite tie-ins for their house titles?

And, once again, multi-part adaptations of Rebellion games have already featured - Wardog ran for ten issues of the Megazine back in 2001/02 - and this is the first tie-in since then.

[W. R. Logan]

>The DC deal is a start, but I'd be kidding myself if I tried to pretend that multi-part adaptations of Rebellion games aren't on the cards at some stage.

The DC deal is more than any other owner of 2000 has ever done and two computer game stories in over 200 progs doesnt exactly seem like the slippery slope to me.

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

[Bico]

Using 2000ad as source material for games is only going to work if Rebellion start developing the f*cking things a bit more before they release them on the market.  World War Zero would have been great if they'd spent a bit more time on it.  Releasing it on a budget price was a good indicator that the publisher didn't think it was up to scratch, and Dredd vs Death's many gameplay shortcomings are well known to boarders who bought it at full price when it came out - and now it goes for about a tenner.
Still, keeping this on-topic, writers cost money, so if Rebellion have a bunch of game developers writing scripts as part of their 9-5 routine, rather than freelancers, it'll help keep costs on the book down.  I'm just playing devil's advocate here, but two tie-ins in 200 progs is still a case of material that wouldn't have got commissioned otherwise being forced into the book.  It might not be much, I'll admit, but it IS still there.
Although I'm not sure if Wardog wouldn't have got commissioned.  I think I read an episode of this somehow (I couldn't get the Megazine at this point), and it seemed... meh.  Kind of average, in the usual comic-book kinda way.  I could see a 2000ad editor going for it during the whole "I don't know if I'll bother buying 2000ad this week" period - you know, when Mambo was in it.  Still, as long as Rebellion stick to the whole 'two tie-ins in 200 progs' management plan, I'll be happy enough, and there's always one strip in the book that lets the side down for someone.  There are boarders who actively boast about not even reading Sin/Dex or Bec and Kawl.
It's not like 2000ad hasn't had shite tie-ins before, anyway.  Urban Strike, A Life Less Ordinary, there's probably more I can't remember.  Ah well.

[The Amstor Computer]

"Still, keeping this on-topic, writers cost money, so if Rebellion have a bunch of game developers writing scripts as part of their 9-5 routine, rather than freelancers, it'll help keep costs on the book down."

I suspect that *if* Rebellion were stupid enough to get their dev staff writing scripts for the comic on a regular basis, you might see a few heavy-hitting writers more than a little pissed off...

Wardog was pretty bleh, but it wasn't *that* different from other duff strips of that period, like Killer. Certainly, worse has seen print in both 2K and the Megazine & it was a lot better than it could have been, considering that it was basically backstory for a computer game.

[Max Kon]

i belive i am the target market for 2000ad: 15 year old with lots of time to read and who dosen't by music or computer games(well not many) and byes comics instead.

[Bico]

Yeah, but you'll not buy them as often once your balls drop.  Well, that, or you'll just buy Vampirella comics, which will keep John Smith in work, anyway.

[paulvonscott]

Mission staements?  Marketing synergy?  What the fook happened to your souls, guys?

I'd rather 2000AD was just intelligent, funny and exciting.

You big bloody weirdos, I think the last thing we want is for Rebellion to turn into the next DC or Marvel.

The way I see it, while everything in the betleguisian garden may not be purest veridian, but 2000AD is owned by people who give a toss about the comic (the only ones who ever have), contents wise it's as good as it's been for a decade or more.  I mean, that's not bad.

If it's good, it'll attract people by default.  I bet there was a very big cross-section of readers in the 80's.  Hank Wangford was reading it while I was reading it as a schoolkid.  What did I ever have in common with him but the comic?  Who cares?

[VampiraJen]

i belive i am the target market for 2000ad: 15 year old


i feel like an old maid..............

[Max Kon]

I've always had balls, and i'll always keep reading tooth, if i want porn i'd get porn not Vampirella.

[Al_Ewing]

I demand more Legend Of The Linkits.