primary research - media A levels

1. Primary Research Results
Name: Jess Blundell
Candidate Number: 1020
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135

2. I created the survey on
survey monkey and
emailed participants the
link so they could fill it
out online. I found this to
be an easy way to collect
data to use for ideas for
my soap opera trailer.

3. What is your gender?
These results connote that over half of those who responded believe that soap operas
are aimed towards a female audience. Although this will help me to understand what
audience soap operas entice, it will not give me an understanding of the soap opera
genre and its audience itself.

4. What age category do you fit into?
These results connote that the
majority of those answering the
questionnaire are in the 16-25
age range. This will give me an
idea of what the younger
audience wants to see from a
soap opera and their opinions on
soap operas, therefore I will be
able to gain a deeper
understanding of the younger
soap opera audience. However,
there is a respondent in the 31-40
age range which reveals how soap
operas appeal to a range of ages.

5. Do you watch soap operas?
There is a range of answers to the question of whether the respondents watch soap operas,
however, the majority of them do in fact watch soap operas. As discovered from the previous
question of the age category respondents fit into, it can be seen that a lot of those in the 16-25
category watch soap operas, therefore the trailer of ‘hanging hill lane’ should be catered
towards a younger audience as well as an older audience. This provides me with the knowledge
that the trailer and content of ‘hanging hill lane’ should have storylines especially for this age
category.

6. Do you think soap operas appeal more to males or
females?
The results to this question denote that the majority of respondents think that soap operas
are aimed towards females and none think they’re aimed towards the male audience. This
connotes that the storylines used by soaps generally appeal to females more than males,
therefore to make ‘hanging hill lane’ a success there should be some storylines which would
appeal to the male audience as well as the female audience.

7. What themes do you expect to see in soap operas?
This multiple choice question
gathered data that the two most
popular themes that
respondents expected to see was
love and adultery and murder
and aftermath. This could be
because most soaps use this
storyline a lot and prove to be
successful due to the amount of
people who watch soap operas.
The second most popular theme
was family and relationships,
possibly because the audience
can relate to some of the issues
raised. Therefore, these three
themes could be used in
‘hanging hill lane’ in order to
draw in the target audience.

8. Where do you think a soap opera should be set?
This pie chart of results highlights that the most popular opinion of where a soap opera should
be set is in a small town/village. This could be due to the community feel it will give where the
characters know each other which is common in almost all soap operas. Over half of the
respondents gave this answer which depicts that my groups soap opera should be set in a
small town/village.

9. What marketing techniques do you think are most
successful?
When respondents were
asked about the marketing
techniques they think are
most successful, the most
popular opinion with the
most votes was trailers and
social media. This could be
due to the fact that
marketing for the soap will
occur in the populations
every day lives as they will
come across these marketing
techniques, proving to be the
most successful and
expected. Therefore, these
techniques are likely to be
used with al soap operas,
including ‘hanging hill lane’

10. How often in one week do you watch soap operas?
The answers for this question were varied among the 16 respondents, however, most of the
respondents said they didn’t watch soap operas. Almost all of the respondents were in the 16-
25 age range, therefore, the storylines may not be of interest to them. Therefore, ‘hanging hill
lane’ will include characters and storylines which will appeal to them as well as an older
audience in order to be the most successful soap.

11. What class do you think soap operas are aimed towards?
This question highlights how soap operas are thought to be aimed at the working class. This
could be due to the fact that the storylines are relatable to them or they want to escape the
stress of their everyday lives. However, some respondents thought that soap operas could be
aimed towards the middle class and upper class. This could perhaps suggest that they want to
escape their every day lives too and therefore soap operas would appeal to these classes too.

12. What age range do you feel soap operas are aimed towards?
Most of the
respondents (75%)
thought that soap
operas are more
aimed towards young
adults. This could be
due to the storylines
being able to divert
them from their every
day lives and they
could relate to some
storylines too.

13. In conclusion, I have found out a lot about how people see soaps, what
they expect from it and who they are aimed towards. This will help me
in the creation of my own soap opera trailer as I know the
expectations that people have of soaps operas and can use the
knowledge gained from the survey to make my trailer successful. A key
thing I have discovered from this research is that the main audience
will females aged 16-25. I will therefore have to create a soap which
will appeal to this gender and age, however, I will not solely base the
trailer around this age and gender because it will limit ‘hanging hill
lane’s’ potential audience. I will therefore ensure that there are
storylines which will appeal to older ages as well as the male gender
which I will do by basing the soap around the most popular opinion of
what a soap would include as well as one which people don’t expect so
that it is unique from other soap operas.
Conclusion