A levels audience

 What are the main types of media ownership?
 What does PBS stand for?
 What are the pros of public owned media?
 What are the cons?
 What are the pros of private owned media?
 What are the cons?

 The success of a media text is directly judged in
terms of audience size (i.e. Number of copies of a
magazine/newspaper sold, audience ratings on aTV
programme)
 A successful commercialTV programme will have a
larger audience and thus attract more advertising
and a successful PBS with a larger audience is
justification for the continuation of the license fee
system.

 Almost every mass media text needs commercial success in
order for its production to be sustainable and, therefore, is a
commercial product itself (perhaps with the exception of a
PBS or very particular cases in independent filmmaking or
publishing, which are not expected to generate profit but
just enough revenues to cover the expenses)
 A mass media text is made by a media organisation
(institution) within a particular context to appeal a
particular target audience. Knowledge of this target
audience defines the ideology and thus the representation.
 The key concept AUDIENCE is closely related to the key
concepts REPRESENTATION and IDEOLOGY.

All mass media texts have two contexts that you need
to think about when analysing them:
context of production: the context in which they
were made.
context of consumption: the context in which they
are consumed by the audience or market.
Conditions of reception:
The contexts of production and consumption

So, when studying a media text, it is important to think about:
 The historical context for the text: economic, social and political factors
that influenced the way it was made.
 The cultural context of construction: conventions, attitudes, ideologies
and expectations exposed in the text.
 The institutional context of the text:
Who made it?
Why they made it?
When/where was distributed?
Who is the target audience?
Other texts created by the same institution or within the same genre that
are known by the audience? (intertextuality)
This is what we call the contexts of production and consumption.

Example of context of consumption:
 Towards the end of the Iraq war, the Iraqi authorities ordered
Reuters (the famous international news agency) to stop
distributing video material to CNN at risk of losing all
permission to gather news in Iraq.
 Reuters was allowed to continue to send live video material to
other news organisations, but not to CNN because the Iraqi
authorities felt that it was not being shown in context and was
being used as US propaganda about the war rather than as
news reporting.
http://media.guardian.co.uk/iraqandthemedia

By the end of this lesson you:
 You must be able to tell the difference between
mass and niche audience.
 You should be able to explain why the media
classifies audiences
 Amazing if you can identify the target audience
of a media product.

 Target audience: The audience we think we are
making this product for.
 Media producers identify the target audience during
the planning stage for a media text, because this
will affect the shape of the text.
 All these different target audiences will mediate
the way a text is constructed because it will be
shaped differently, structured differently and have
different content depending on the target
audience.

Types of audience:
 Mass audience: The largest one. Consumes mainstream or
popular culture texts such as soap operas, sit-coms, reality
shows and sports.
 Niche audiences: Much smaller and diverse than mass
audience but usually very influential.Very attractive to
advertisers of relevant products and sufficiently reliable to
enable continuation of a media text due to consistent
revenue being generated by sales. (i.e. BBC4 is aimed at a
niche audience who are interested in cultural/artistic
programmes)

 Mass Audience
 Niche Audience
 Audience Profiling

Term Definition Example
Mass
Audience
Niche
Audience
Audience
Profiling

Term Definition Example
Mass
Audience
The widest range of
people possible.
Media specifically
designed to reach a
large audience
Dancing on Ice
X Factor
Eastenders
Niche
Audience
A very narrow, specific
group of people
Antiques Road show
BBC4
Audience
Profiling
Ways of putting people
into groups based on
common
characteristics, such as
social or economic
status or interests
Male
12-16 years old
White British
Student
Middle class

The 5 Demographics we most commonly
consider in Media are:
1. Age
2. Gender
3. Race/Geo-demographics
4. Interests/ Attitudes & Beliefs
(psychographic profile)
5. Class/ Income (Socio-economic profile)

Are each of the following examples
designed for
Mass
or
Niche
audiences

 What is the target audience of a media product?
 What is mass audience?
 What is niche audience?
 What BBC channel is aimed to a mass audience?
 What BBC channel is aimed to a niche audience?

The demographic profiling model

Audience profiling consist in segmenting (or
classifying) the audience according to particular
characteristics shared by the targeted audience.
This is often done by advertisers to identify ‘types’ of
consumers and markets for their products.

There are many ways in which audience can be
segmented or profiled. The main ones are:
 The demographic model
 The socio-economic model
 The psychographic model

By the end of this lesson:
 You must be able to analyse the target
audience of a magazine cover according to
the demographic audience profiling model.

 Race:
 Gender:
 Age:
 Geo-demographics:
 Class/ Income:
 Interests/ Attitudes & Beliefs:
White (Latin/Mediterranean)
Male
45
U.K./Spain
Liberal professional/working class
Media industry, literature, music,
films, education and humanism.
The demographic profiling model:
According to this model, I belong to the following group:

Demographic
profiling
Gender:
Race:
Age:
Geo-demographics:
Class/Incomes:
Interests/Attitudes
and beliefs:
Female
Black
16-45
UK/USA/English
speaking
countries
All
Beauty/Fashion

Demographic
profiling
Gender:
Race:
Age:
Geo-demographics:
Class/Incomes:
Interests/Attitudes
and beliefs:
Female
White
16-45
UK/USA/English
speaking
countries
All
Beauty/Fashion

What demographic group are you included in?
 Think of your race, age, gender, the country you live
in (geo-demographics), your occupation, your
religion or beliefs and your personal interests.
 Write the answer in your exercise book in bullet
points.

What is the demographic profiling model?
 A method of profiling audiences attending to
common characteristics.
What are the categories in the socio-economic
profiling model?
 Gender
 Age
 Race
 Geo-demographics
 Income
 Interests

 Pick three different magazine covers.
 Who is the product aimed at? Think of specific
audiences in terms of demographic profiling– do
not generalise.
 How do you know? Explain your answer in a
couple of sentences.

The socio-economic profiling model

By the end of this lesson:
 You must be able to tell the difference between
the demographic, and socioeconomic audience
profiling models.
 You should be able to explain why the media
classifies audiences.
 Amazing if you can analyse a media product and
guess its specific socioeconomic audience.

The basis for this system is the purchasing power of a particular sector of
society which conforms a particular sector of the audience.
There are different models of profiling audiences according to their
incomes and purchasing power, being the most usual theThe Standard
Occupational Classification :
Group A: Doctors, lawyers, senior managers of large-scale organisations
(very well paid professionals)
Group B: Middle management, teachers, liberal professionals (fairly well
paid professionals)
Group C1: ‘White collar’ bank clerks, junior management, nurses.
Group C2: Skilled ‘blue collar’ workers such as electricians, plumbers,...
Group D: Semi and unskilled manual such as retailers, drivers, waiters,...
Group E: Students, pensioners, unemployed.

A
Senior managers of large-scale
organisations , bankers, lawyers, doctors
(very well paid professionals)
B Middle management, teachers, liberal
professionals (fairly well paid professionals)
C1 (White collar workers) Office supervisors,
junior managers, nurses, bank clerks,…
C2 Skilled (blue collar) workers and trades
persons, such as electricians, plumbers,...
D
Semi-skilled and unskilled
manual workers, such as retailers, drivers,
waiters,...
E Unemployed, students, pensioners, casual
workers.
The Standard Occupational
Classification categorises
people in terms of their
occupation or income.
One common way of
describing audiences is to
use a letter code to show
their income bracket.

 Using the Socio Economic
model describe what is the
target audience of the
following magazines.

A
Senior managers of large-scale organisations ,
bankers, lawyers, doctors (very well paid
professionals)
B Middle management, teachers, liberal
professionals (fairly well paid professionals)
C1 (White collar workers) Office supervisors,
junior managers, nurses, bank clerks,…
C2 Skilled (blue collar) workers and trades
persons, such as electricians, plumbers,...
D
Semi-skilled and unskilled
manual workers, such as retailers, drivers,
waiters,...
E Unemployed, students, pensioners, casual
workers.

 Using the same magazine covers as in the previous
audience profiling homework, identify:
audiences in terms of socio- economic profiling–
do not generalise.
 How do you know? Explain your answer in a
couple of sentences.

What is the socio-economic profiling model?
 A method of profiling audiences attending to
their purchase power (income).
What are the categories in the socio-economic
profiling model?
 A: very well paid professionals
 B: fairly well paid professionals
 C1: white collar workers
 C2: blue collar workers
 D: Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers
 E: Unemployed

 What is a target audience?
 What is a mass audience?
 What is a niche audience?
 What is the demographic profiling model?
 What are the main categories in the demographic profiling
model?
 What is the socio-economic profiling model?
 How many categories do we find in the socio-economic profiling
model?

Abraham Harold Maslow (April 1, 1908 – June
8, 1970) was an American psychologist who
was best known for creating a theory of
psychological motivation.
Maslow wanted to understand what motivates
people. He believed that individuals are
motivated to achieve certain needs.
The earliest and most widespread version of
Maslow's theory of psychological motivation
includes eight motivational needs, often
depicted as hierarchical levels within a
pyramid.
When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to
fulfill the next one, and so on.

Physiological needs: food, water, sleep and
procreation of the species.
 Safety Needs: security and stability, needed for
the physical survival of the person, shelter and
safety.
Love and Belonging: which are psychological
needs provided by family and friends.
Esteem needs: the need to be competent and
recognized, such as through social status and level
of success.
 Cognitive level: the need to know and understand
the world around us, intellectually stimulate
ourselves and explore new boundaries.
 Aesthetic needs: which is the need for harmony,
order and beauty.
 Need for Self-actualization: occurs when
individuals reach a state of harmony and self-
understanding because they are engaged in
achieving their full potential, self fulfilment and
seeking personal growth and peak experiences.
 Transcendence: help others to achieve self-
actualization.

Abraham Maslow wanted to understand what motivates people. He believed
that individuals are motivated to achieve certain needs.
When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on.
 Explain briefly how have you fulfilled your needs in every stage of Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs? Where are you now in this pyramid of needs?
 Can you differentiate between your needs and your desires?
 What do you need in your life? Explain why
 What would you like to have (desire) that you can do without? Explain why
 Write the answers in your exercise book.
You can watch Abraham Maslow explaining the concept of self-actualisation here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DOKZzbuJQA

The psycho-graphic profiling model

The Psychographic profiling model:
 Target audiences directly through their needs and
desires, which is more effective for advertisers,
broadcasters and publishers.
 Advertisers aim to link the ideologies of the product to
those of the consumer:
 Values and Attitudes (political, social, religious)
 Culture (High culture vs. Popular culture)
 Lifestyles (habits and hobbies)

Cross-Cultural Consumer Characteristics
 Categorise people in terms of their
personal aspirations.
 Profiles audiences in terms of needs and
desires.

Mainstreamers The largest group. Concerned with stability and security. Mainly
consumes well-recognised brands and mainstream texts.
Traditionalists Those who believe in traditional ways.
Aspirers Seeking to improve themselves.Tend to define themselves by
high status brand names, absorbing the ideologies of the products
as their own and believing that their status is established by this
conspicuous consumption.
Succeeders People who feel secure and in control, generally in positions of
power. Consumes brands which reinforce their feelings of control
and power.
Reformers Idealists who actively consume eco-friendly products and buy
brands which are environmentally supportive and healthy. Caring
and responsible ideology.
Individualists Highly media-literate, expects high-production advertising and
buys product image, requiring high-profile, sophisticated
campaigns.

1. BELONGERS-Traditional, conservative conformists; family-orientated,
like security, hate change and like a strong community
2. EMULATORS-Young people searching for an identity, desiring to fit
into adult world, but can be discouraged about prospects.
3. EMULATOR-ACHIEVERS- Successful, enjoy acquiring things and buy
brand names.
4. SOCIETALLYCONSCIOUS ACHIEVERS- Inner peace and environment
more important than financial success; want personal fulfilment, lovers
of outdoors and fitness, like to experiment.
5. NEEDS DIRECTED- Survivors on incomes that only allow needs and not
wants to be fulfilled; pensioners and those on unemployment benefits,
for example.

Lifestyle marketing
 Segmentation of audiences according to their lifestyle, i.e.
YUPPIES (Young Upward Professionals) or DINKYS (double
income no kids yet)
 This profiling or segmentation is made using some particular
tools for market research, such as LifeMatrix, the
psychographic marketing tool launched in December 2002
by MRI and RoperASW.

LifeMatrix
This tool defines ten categories which are much more centred around
values, attitudes and beliefs than the original, more simplistic
categorisation
http://www.roperasw.com/products/lifematrix.html
The LifeMatrix segments:
 Tribe Wired: Free spirited and creative young singles.
 Fun/Atics: Aspirational and fun seeking, active young people.
 Dynamic Duos: Hard-involvement couples.
 Priority Parents: Family values, media strongly dominate.
 Home soldiers: Home-centred, family-oriented.
 Renaissance women: Active, caring, influential mums.
 RuggedTraditionalists: Traditional male values.
 Struggling singles: High aspirations, low economic status.
 Settled elders: Devout, older, sedentary lifestyles.
 Free birds:Vital, active and altruistic seniors.

Mainstreamers
Traditionalists
Aspirers
Succeeders
Reformers
Individualists

 How do advertisers use Maslow’s hierarchy
of needs to appeal to consumers?

 Using the same magazine covers as in the previous
audience profiling homework, identify:
audiences in terms of psychographic profiling, using
the Cross-Cultural Consumer Characteristics (The Four
Cs) model provided.
 How do you know? Explain your answer in a couple of
sentences

Gender: Mostly male
Age: Teenage-late 20s
Race: Any
Income/class: Working class
Geo-demographic profiling: Poorer areas (e.g. East London, Peckham)
Socio-economic profiling: D-E, as students have the time to watch movies and for
reading magazines, also able to use their allowance to buy and collect magazines.
Psycho-demographic profiling: Mainstreamers because films are popular amongst
teenagers, and aimed to entertain them.
Gender: Male
Age: 30s-50s
Race: White (mostly)
Income/class: Middle-Higher class
Geo-demographic profiling: Richer areas (e.g. West End, Westminster, etc)
Socio-economic profiling: A-C1, as they’re more capable of affording expensive cars
such as these, and enjoy more a luxurious lifestyle.
Psycho-demographic profiling: Succeeders, as they’re in control of their income and
able to afford such items.
Gender: unisex
Age: 20s-40s
Race: Any
Income/class: Middle class/Working class
Geo-demographic profiling: Middle class to poorer areas (e.g. Dulwich, etc.)
Socio-economic profiling: D-C2 because many of the working class join campaigns to
save the environment.
Psycho-demographic profiling: Reformers because they aim to consume brands
which are environmentally supportive.

Gender: Mostly aimed at males.
Age: 12-23 years old.
Race: Most likely white British/American.
Income/Class:Working class/Lower class.
Interests: Films,TV shows.
Geodemographic profile: Poorer areas (e.g.
Hackney, Peckham, etc.)
Mostly of group E, due to mostly students buying
film magazines.
Gender: Males.
Income/Class: Middle class.
Interests: Cars.
Geodemographic profile: Rich areas of main cities.
Mostly of groups C1/B, due to mostly administrative and
supervisory occupations are filled with those of the middle
class.
Gender: Females.
Income/Class: Lower class/Middle class.
Interests: Beauty, makeup, fashion.
Geodemographic profile: e.g. West End.
Mostly of groups E/D, due to mostly unemployed,
students and semi-skilled, but also those of C2 with
skilled manual occupations.

Why do media producers classify
audiences into so many different
groups?
Write one short paragraph answering this question.
Excellent if you give examples to prove your point.

What is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
 A theory of psychological motivation that individuals are
motivated to achieve certain needs. When one need is
fulfilled a person seeks to fulfill the next one.
What is the psychographic profiling model?
 A method of profiling audiences attending to their needs
and desires.
What are the categories in the psychographic profiling model?
 Mainstreamers
 Traditionalists
 Aspirers
 Succeeders
 Reformers
 Individualists

The Century of the Self is a 2002 British television documentary series in four episodes,
produced by the BBC and written and directed by filmmaker Adam Curtis.
To many in politics and business, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of
democracy, where power has finally moved to the people. Certainly, the people may feel
they are in charge, but are they really? The Century of the Self tells the untold and
sometimes controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society. How was the
all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interests?
Part 1 "Happiness Machines" (originally broadcast 17 March 2002)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnPmg0R1M04
Part 2 "The Engineering of Consent" (originally broadcast 24 March 2002)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEsPOt8MG7E
Part 3 "There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads; He Must Be Destroyed"
(originally broadcast 31 March 2002)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub2LB2MaGoM
Part 4"Eight People SippingWine in Kettering" (originally broadcast 7April 2002)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VouaAz5mQAs

A levels audience

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