Below are some resources to help you see how journalists or reviewers write about a certain media product. This is the detail we are looking for in classwork or practice work / essays:

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QUICK LINKS

Audience Type- here
Primary and Secondary Audiences- here
Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Age"- here
Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Gender"- here
Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Language"- here
Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Religion"- here
Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Ethnicity"- here
Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Hobbies or Interests"- here
Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Education"- here
Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Nationality"- here
Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Values and Lifestyles"- here
Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Income" or SOCIO ECONOMIC GROUPS - here
What is a passive and an active audience?- here
Exemplar Written Pieces On Audience- here

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WHAT DO I NEED TO INCLUDE IN MY WRITING

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Describe the primary audience and how you know this using age, ethnicity, gender, socio economic grouping and lifestyle profiles. Explain how it achieves this with evidence, examples, stats, dates

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Describe the secondary audience. Explain the alternate or accidental audience and why the product picks up these audiences e.g. are there particular characters or events that appeal to these audiences? What about the genre itself? What about Psychographics? What about audience personality types? Explain how it achieves this with evidence, examples, stats, dates

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AUDIENCE THEORY   - back to top

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VIDEO: Excellent Video Targetted At GCSE Level- click here

​VIDEO: What is an audience? click here

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'Audience' is a very important concept throughout media studies. All media texts are made with an audience in mind, ie a group of people who will receive it and make some sort of sense out of it. And generally, but not always, the producers make some money out of that audience. Therefore it is important to understand what happens when an audience "meets" a media text. The term audience refers to everyone who consume media products. The audience is vital to the success of all forms of media (magazines, films, music videos). Without an audience the media industry would not survive...

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Audience Type  - back to top

Mass or Niche Audience

"Mass Audience" – The term mass audience refers to the large group of the population who consume one media product, such as a soap.

Example: ITV’s, X Factor - Targets a mass (massive) audience. The show ensures that there is elements which will appeal to audiences of all ages and from different backgrounds.

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"Niche" Audience - ‘Niche’ is a fraction of a total audience. A relatively small segment of the audience with specific interests and tastes. 

Example:  BBC Two,  Gardeners World- Targets a niche audience whereby there is a relatively small audience who will watch it.

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Constructing Audience
When a media text is being planned, perhaps the most important question the producers consider is "Does it have an audience?" If the answer to this is 'no', then there is no point in going any further. If no one is going to watch/read/play/buy the text, the producers aren't going to make any money or get their message across. Audience research is a major part of any media company's work. They use questionnaires, focus groups, and comparisons to existing media texts, and spend a great deal of time and money finding out if there is anyone out there who might be interested in their idea.

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Primary and Secondary Audiences  - back to top

Primary audiences are those who receive the media product directly.  The primary audience is the decision-maker and/or decision-making body and the secondary audience is the group(s) of people that you identify, educate and activate to influence the primary audience.

 

Secondary, or "hidden", audiences include anyone who may indirectly receives or consumes the mediaThese include anyone who will receive a copy, need to approve e.g. parents say yes to going to see a film, will hear about, or be affected by the media.  Secondary audience may also come late to using the media product due to other factors.

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Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Age"   - back to top

What are the ages or age group that the media product is being developed/produced for e.g Teenagers, 20 to 30 year olds. For more information click here

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Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Gender"   - back to top

Male / Female / Transgender? For more information click here

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Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Language"   - back to top

Is this written for a language or languages? Has it been translated into other languages or not?

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Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Religion" - back to top

Is their a faith that would not be apprporiate to target

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Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Ethnicity" - back to top

How is the media product going to appeal to those of different ethnic races and culture? What are the main ethnic groups:

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For more on Ethnic Groups- click here

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White

• English / Welsh / Scottish / Northern

• Irish / British

• Irish

• Gypsy or Irish Traveller

• Any other White background

Mixed / Multiple ethnic groups

• White and Black Caribbean

• White and Black African

• White and Asian

• Any other Mixed / Multiple ethnic background

Asian / Asian British

• Indian / Pakistani

• Bangladeshi

• Chinese

• Any other Asian background

Black / African / Caribbean / Black British

• African

• Caribbean

• Any other Black / African / Caribbean background

Other ethnic group

• Arab

• Any other ethnic group

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Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Hobbies or Interests" - back to top

What are the hobbies and interests of the audience? How does the media prodcut producers adapt the product to them

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Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Education" - back to top

What is the education of the audience? How does the media prodcut producers adapt the product to them?

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Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Nationality" - back to top

What is the nationality of the audience? Is there historic event or conflict or distater that would attract an audience to the media product? How does the media prodcut producers adapt the product to them?

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Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Values and Lifestyles" - back to top

One way media producers identify their target audience is by writing a lifestyle profile which explains the interests, opinions, behaviours and lifestyle choices of the audience. Examples might be:

 

> middle-aged males who live in suburban areas, enjoy golfing and want to look stylish

> teenage girls living in the inner city who tend to idolise pop stars and buy items that boost their status among their peers.

 

Psychometric Audience Profile - back to top

Using demographics like age, gender and occupation to define or categorise an audience doesn't always give the best results as many people don't fit in the traditional categories. A Psychometric Audience Profile defines an audience by how they think and by considering their values, attitudes and lifestyle (VALs).Psychometric means using values, attitudes and personality traits to define or categorise a group. A psychometric method of categorisation specific to advertising was developed by Young and Rubicam, a marketing and communications company.

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The Aspirer
There is the Aspirer is someone who seeks status. An aspirer want status brands to show their place in society. They are happy to invest in luxury goods, often using credit. They consider themselves stylish and on trend and may be persuaded by celebrity endorsements. 

 

The Explorer
The explorer is someone who seeks discovery. Explorers like to discover new things and are attracted to new or innovative brands, products and experiences.

 

The Mainstreamer
The mainstreamer seeks is someone who seeks security. Mainstreamers make up 40% of the population. They try and trust brands that are a value for money. They like to think that they are part of a larger group of like-minded people and are less likely to take risks.

 

The Reformer
The reformer is someone who seeks enlightenment. Reformers are defined by self-esteem and self-improvement. They are not influenced by status and are not materialistic. They are socially aware people who are inclined to invest in brands and products that are good for them or good for the environment.

 

The Resigned
The resigned are people who seek to survive. The resigned are older people who have built up their attitudes over time and believe in institutions and traditions that they have come to trust and believe they can invest in safely.

 

The Struggler
The struggler is someone who seeks to escape. The struggler has a "live for the day" attitude and doesn't think about the future. They may see themselves as victims with only their physical skills helping them in society.

The Succeeder
The succeeder is someone who seeks control. Succeeders are those who have high social status and are in control of their lives with nothing to prove. They believe they deserve the best and decide upon the best brands and products for themselves based on reliability.

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For more on Lifestyle profiles (Yougov profiles-our your own idea) https://screen.yougov.com/audience

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LifeMatrix Tool  - back to top

The LifeMatrix tool, launched by MRI and RoperASW, defines ten audience categories, centred around both values, attitudes and beliefs, and more fundamental, demographic audience categories.

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Tribe wired                   Digital, free-spirited, creative young singles 
Fun/Atics                       Aspirational, fun-seeking, active young people 
Dynamic Duos              Hard-driving, high-involvement couples 
Priority Parents             Family values, activities, media strongly dominate.
Home Soldiers               Home-centric, family-oriented, materially ambitious 
Renaissance Women    Active, caring, affluent, influential mums 
Rugged                            Traditionalists Traditional male values, love of outdoors 
Struggling Singles         High aspirations, low economic status 
Settled elders              Devout, older, sedentary lifestyles 
Free Birds                      Vital, active, altruistic seniors 

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Writing About Audience: How The Media Products Targets "Income" or Socio Economic Groups  - back to top

One other way to target audiences is bysocio-economic group. This is a way of classifying audiences by occupation and income.

A Higher managerial, administrative, professional, e.g. chief executive, senior civil servant, surgeon.
B Intermediate managerial, administrative, professional, e.g. bank manager, teacher.
C1 Supervisory, clerical, junior managerial, e.g. shop floor supervisor, bank clerk, salesperson.
C2 Skilled manual workers, e.g. electrician, carpenter.
D Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers, e.g. assembly line worker, refuse collector, messenger.
E Casual labourers, pensioners, unemployed, e.g. pensioners without private pensions and anyone living on benefits.

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For more information on Socio Economic Groups- click here

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What is a passive and an active audience?  - back to top

An active audience is one that actively engages with the media product . ... they form opinions and questions things. A passive audience does not actively engage with a media text. A passive audience is one that does not question the message that the media is sending and simply accepts the message in the way the media outlet intended. They believe what the text says as fact.

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Audience Demographics (age, gender, income, education and occupation)

We have established that media producers target audiences by demographics (age, gender, ethnicity).

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EXAMPLE 1: MADE UP CAR CALLED THE BLAKE AVENGER  - back to top

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The primary audience for the Avenger is low / middle income people aged between 18 to 35 years old who are mainly male and white and working class which fit into the socio economic groups C2, D and E. The reason Blake chose this audience is their need for cars that are reliable, low cost to run and low entry cost to buy. This market have strongly responded to the Blake Avenger radio adverts on local radio and “red top” newspaper ads offering them finance deals and “trade ins” for their existing cars which meets their financial needs. The adverts also pinpointed the high mileage features of the car and the 1 year free repair scheme.

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The secondary audience emerged after 6 months of release to those who heard the adverts too and wanted an inexpensive second car or a “little run around” or a city car. Over 70% of the new customers became white females aged 30-60 years in the socio economic groups B and C1. The compact size made it ideal for these drivers plus a metallic pink colour introduced later on in the year made it appealing to this audience. The product meets it purpose and the needs of the target audience.

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