Why is audience research important to Media producers?
For media producers audience research is very important because it shows the characteristics of the viewers, for example certain details of the audience such as gender, age etc. By researching you can figure out the audiences different habits such as what they enjoy listening to/watching, also what they dislike. This allows the producers to give a better estimate of how many viewers the product would get, also try and find out how to give it a better rating. For example if the Media producers were releasing a romantic product they would go towards the female audience as it would attract more viewers.
To figure out the audiences you have to use a different range of methods, this can be ways such as questionnaires, focus groups and comparisons to other existing products.
How audiences are profiled:
Socio-economic status - This is what you are classed as depending on where you live or career/salary. It has different letters depending on the job type, such as:
A (Upper Middle Class) - Management, doctors, lawyers or other professionals.
B (Middle Class) - Management Assistant, teachers, graphic designers.
C1 (Lower Middle Class) - Supervisors, nurses, administrators.
C2 (Skilled Working Class) - Skilled manual workers, trades/sales people.
D (Working Class) - Semi or unskilled manual workers (apprentices)
E (Unemployed) - Students, pensioners or lowest grade workers.
They are profiled this way mainly by salary, for example if you are in Upper Middle Class you will get a lot more money than someone who is unemployed or in working class, therefore producers can see who they want to aim their product at so they make the most profit.
They are profiled this way mainly by salary, for example if you are in Upper Middle Class you will get a lot more money than someone who is unemployed or in working class, therefore producers can see who they want to aim their product at so they make the most profit.
Age - They need to keep the age suitable to the audience so they feel like they are the same as the presenter or producer. For example for the children's channel cBeebies they have to make sure all the content is age appropriate and no harmful or bad language at all. Then for a teenage drama they could use slang and maybe some minor swear words but also have to make sure they don't take it too far.
If they were producing a 15 game they would have to make sure they firstly warn the buyer what the content includes and not have too much bad language/gore in, as that is what 18 games are for. They would have it ensure it is classed as a 15 before they release it.
If they were producing a 15 game they would have to make sure they firstly warn the buyer what the content includes and not have too much bad language/gore in, as that is what 18 games are for. They would have it ensure it is classed as a 15 before they release it.
Another example more media related is when Radio 1 sacked Chris Moyles as he had gone past being right for the target audience (too old) As Radio 1 is mainly for teenagers/people in their 20's they had to replace Chris with someone who connected with the audience more so they still tuned in and were interested when listening to the radio.
Regional identity - this is another way to attract more viewers/listeners as it makes them feel more similar to the presenter. For example on BBC Tees you want a presenter who is from Teesside (or North East at least) instead of someone who is from London or South of England, this way they can recognise the Teesside accent and understand slang used or catch phrases that have been made up in the region. If a presenter from London started talking about different things that happen where they live nobody would understand or be interested.
Niche - these are smaller markets that work to provide for the little groups that are interested in them. For example a fishing magazine is only popular with a certain group (most likely older men) and isn't interesting for teens, so they only produce a small batch to sell to the audience who do buy it.
Gender - figuring out what audience will be most suitable for the product to attract the most attention. Most shows/channels on TV are for both all genders however some are more popular for males, and some others are more popular toward females. It is important to figure out which gender you will be making the product for, but usually it is better to make it suitable for both female and male, as then you will get more viewers.
Female:
For example soaps on TV such as Eastenders, Coronation Street, and Hollyoaks are more based at the female audience, as they are on pretty much every day the producers know they attract a lot of viewers as the storyline continues every episode.
Male:
Channels such as Dave are more based for the male audience as they play shows such as Top Gear, Man Vs. Food and Mock the Week. These channels are usually rude or mildly offensive but the male audience enjoy watching it and find it comedic. The slogan for the Dave TV Channel is 'the home of witty banter' which is more suitable towards men than females.
Sexual Orientation - this is the lifestyle someone chooses to be, for example Straight, gay or bisexual. This could effect what content they are interested in which could also relate to ethnicity. Depending on your race or religion you may be interested in other content/products.
Mainstream -this is when a product started off small not expecting a large audience but has become more popular over time and is now famous world wide. For example X factor, when it began the viewing numbers were very little as people didn't really know what happened on the show, however now millions in England alone watch it every time it is on, and is also popular in places elsewhere such as America, Australia and Holland.
The Big Bang Theory is another mainstream program, when it was set up and released series 1 they thought the fan base would be just sci-fi fans and the market would be very small, however it is still growing and they are now onto series 7. Again this is popular all over the world, firstly released in America and now has moved over to the UK, viewers worldwide enjoy this show.
Commercial location - Somewhere that:
Has a good probability of buying the more formal newspapers.
Lots of applications for high earning careers.
Top end Fashion clothing/goods.
Public Sector - Somewhere that:
Has lower grades from school exams/college/university.
More common crime levels.
Applications for working class jobs.
The media can see and decide which audience they want to produce for by geodemographics, helping them find the best/biggest audience.
Psychographics:
When talking about psychographics it classifies the audience by their personality. They call this consumer categorisation. In total there are 7 types of people in 'Young and Rubicam's 4Cs'.
They are split into:
Resigned - seeking Survival:
Definition: Rigid, strict, authoritarian and chauvinist values, oriented to the past and to Reigned roles. Brand choice stresses safety, familiarity and economy. (Older audience)
Media examples: Online bingo websites, Daily TV Programs (such as Antiques Roadshow) and the Daily Mail newspaper.
Struggler - seeking Escape:
Definition: Alienated, struggler, disorganised - with few resources apart from physical/mechanical skills, for example car repair. Consumers of alcohol, junk food and lotteries. Brand choice involved impart and sensation.
Media examples: Daytime TV (Jeremy Kyle) and The sun magazine.
Mainstream - seeking Security:
Definition: Domestic, conformist, conventional, sentimental, passive, habitual. Putting big and well-known value money towards 'family' brands. (Average demographics)
Media examples: The Sun magazine again, TV programs such as X Factor and The Voice (family shows).
Aspirer - seeking status:
Definition: Materialistic, acquisitive, affiliative, oriented to extrinsics Image, appearance, charisma, persona and fashion. Attractive pack more important than quality of contents. (Younger, clerical sales type occupation)
Media examples: Vogue magazine, TV shows such as Gok Wan, shows about fashion and making people feel good about themselves.
Succeeder - seeking control:
Definition: Strong goal orientation, confidence, work ethic, organisation. Stability and support status quo. Choice of brands based on their reward, prestige - the very best. Also attracted to 'caring' and protective brands, also stress relief. (Top management)
Media examples: Upper class programs such as the Apprentice and Dragons Den, mildly going into politics.
Explorer - seeking discovery:
Definition: Energy, experience, challenge, new frontiers. Brand choice highlights difference, sensation, adventure. The first to try new brands. (younger - student)
Media examples: Travel programs, Eco-homes (environment related shows) and fairly new shows of all genres, such as Bad Education.
Reformer - seeking Enlightenment:
Definition: Freedom from restriction, personal growth, social awareness, value for time, independent judgement. Anti-materialistic but intolerant of bad taste, curious and enquiring, supports growth of new products. (High Education)
Media examples: Frozen Planet & Grand Designs TV Programs.
How/why producers carry out research into their audience:
Quantitative audience - producers should find out quantitative research to find out the most popular interest. It can be to profile a target audience by their personalities, for example behaviours and attitudes.
Pros -
If a huge group (100+ people) take a survey you will have a good amount of reliable results.
Data can be taken and analysed fairly quickly.
Cons -
To professionally make a survey you may have to hire a 'survey expert' which can be costly.
Uses - made to find out the best target audience for your product (especially in the Media industry).
BARB (Broadcasters Audience research Board) - BARB is joint with different companies such as BBC, ITV and Channel 5. Viewers who are part of these businesses have a TV Box on top of their TV which tracks what they watch.
They provide audience data for most of the big/major TV companies. It shows the viewing levels of the shows and can break them down by regional and national. When researching BARB recruit a panel of workers to use primary research in different buildings (on average 5000 homes).
This shows the weekly viewing records on BARB (September 2013)
RAJAR - Radio Joint Audience Research.
They provide data for researchers who want to find out the most popular trends and biggest audiences in the Radio Industry. RAJAR provides data such as listing figures (monthly), survey updates, and certain release dates.
When finding new data they are in different categories such as postcode district and population. This can lead to helping the researchers find out the certain areas socio-economic status and salary.
RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and the RadioCentre. It was set up in 1992 with the aim to provide single audience research for other radio companies.
ABC - Audit Bureau of Circulation UK.
They provide a stamp of trust for people related in the Media industry, this can be media buyers, owners or printers. You can send some work into ABC and they have set standards which depends if your work is suitable and professional to meet Media industry standards or not. ABC verify data across a wide range of Media including print, online and certain events. ABC can confirm different businesses to say that they are capable to be able to print and publish certain work.
ABC is ran by a number of different companies to make one big company, the smaller businesses work on certain areas and different parts of the main website. Some businesses that make up ABC include:
Survey Monkey (surveys & questionnaires)
Howell Penny (brand redesign & site design)
Webtrends (website analytics)
and more.
Qualitative audience - methods for this way of research include focus groups, questionnaires face to face interviews and reviews. This is good research to have as it has the views and opinions from those who are actually experiencing it. They don't hold many surveys but the ones they do are usually in depth with many questions.
Pros - they can be extremely useful and reliable when finding out different types of research. Just have to use the right researcher to get the best questions.
Cons - can take a lot of time to set up different types of qualitative research just to find out different parts of an audience, with large surveys if someone isn't really interested they could give false information.
Uses - get the most developed answers for your research by using in depth questions related to the product.
Focus groups - this is getting a small group together to talk about a certain subject (most likely something about the product being produced). In the focus group the audience can open up and tell the others about what they like/dislike about the topic. This is a good option for research as it is a relaxed environment where you can get a lot of ideas as there is no arguing or disagreeing.
Questionnaires - these are helpful as they can be used anywhere, online, over the telephone, or in the street. They can be from 2 minutes to 30 minutes long depending on the length and number of the questions. Some people asked could give false answers which could affect your research however in comparison to the amount of people who take the questionnaires the percentage of false answers will be really small.
Face-to-face interviews - these can be classed as questionnaires but is probably the oldest and most popular form of research. They are to include questions related to a certain subject but can sometimes be quiet personal and sensitive. With face-to-face interviews you can see the one who is getting asked, and can most likely figure out what type of personality they have. These can be a good type of research as you can see what sort of attitude the audience has along with the answers they give.
