2. "EVERY SINGLE MEDIA PRODUCT IS AIMED AT A SPECIFIC TARGET
AUDIENCE!"
The primary target audience is the people that the product is aimed at.
The secondary audience are another group of people that might like the
product but not the primary target.
The tertiary audience are a group of people who the product is not
aimed at but could potentially be enjoyed by.
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 enjoy the product, the producers aren't going to make
any money or get their message across. They use questionnaires , focus
groups and comparisons to existing texts, and spend a long time finding
out if there is anyone out there who might be interested in their idea.
3. Demographics - This is a way of
grouping people together based
on certain factors such as race,
age, gender, economic status,
level of education, income level
and employment among others.
Psychographics - The study and
classification of people
according to their attitudes,
aspirations, and other
psychological criteria, especially
in market research.
Psychographics Table
4. Demographics Psychographics
Pros - If you use several categories
together and use the NRS scale it
can create a generally similar
answer.
- It can be cheap and easy to get
information.
- People can quite easily fit into
this category.
- People can put themselves into
this category more easily.
- It doesn't constrain people to
their education or gender.
Cons - It generalises too much for
example somebody in category B
may have different interests to
another person in the category.
- It could be difficult to fit people
into the NRS scale.
- People can change professions
quite a lot.
- People could fit into more than
one category on the NRS scale.
- It could be outdated.
- People may feel that they fit into
more than one category.
- The information cannot be found
on the census and therefore
would take more time, effort and
money to get this information.
5. The NRS Social Grade Classification Scale is a
measurement of social grade, social status and
occupation.
Social Grade A = Upper Middle Class = Higher managerial,
administrative or professional.
Social Grade B = Middle Class = Intermediate managerial,
administrative or professional.
Social Grade C1 = Lower Middle Class = Supervisory or
clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional.
Social Grade C2 = Skilled Working Class = Skilled manual
workers.
Social Grade D = Working Class = Semi and unskilled
manual workers.
Social Grade E = Those at the lowest level subsistence =
State pensioners or widows (no other earner) , casual or
lowest grade workers.
6. Radio stations can use both methods of obtaining information
and create an 'ideal' radio listener. An ideal listener is a radio
producer's imagines, intended audience. It could be a group of
individuals that will be addressed, persuaded or affected by what
they are hearing. Imagining such an audience allows a producer
to TARGET a particular group - thus ensuring their radio news
bulletin appeals to those who are tuning in. This is so that
everything put out on their radio stations (song, news, chat and
interview) should be aimed at this ideal listener because the
output needs to be appealing to those who are listening and
therefore listeners can be lost which means money can be lost.
The BBC's ideal listener was 'Dave and Sue' who were the ideal
listeners. The BBC local radio concept of 'Dave and Sue' became
controversial saying that 'Project Bulls eye' had turned radio into
a 'blandly uniform comedy' and that the BBC were following these
rules too strictly and not focusing enough on the local listeners.
