1. Primary Research Results
Name: Jon Villacci
Candidate Number:1248
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number:64315
2. This feedback connotes that my random
collective audience morally expect to see
different ethnic groups on TV within soap operas.
I only gathered one response which was against
seeing different ethnic community's, however
the majority of my audience were against this.
From the responses to this question I have
gathered the knowledge that my groups trailer
should contain diverse ethnic groups to
demonstrate a diversity which clearly represents
modern day communities.
Most soap operas which I have researched
contain multi-cultural characters to promote
quality in society which is why my group should
‘repeat’ (Neale 1980) this in our soap opera
trailer.
Do you like to see different ethnic community's in the latest soap operas ?
3. What age do you think soap operas appeal towards?
The majority of my responses suggested
that middle ages audiences hold the
majority to soap opera appeal.
My group will try to spread the appeal to
younger generations as well to gain a wider
target audience as well as a diverse one.
60% of my responses chose middle aged
where as my lowest response was 17-21
year olds at a 13.3% response.
I want to try and appeal our soap opera
towards younger audiences throughout the
help of our trailer.
4. What settings of a soap opera are most appealing?
64% of my responses suggest to me
that ‘small urban towns’ seem to be
the most appealing choice for soap
opera settings.
This is down to the fact the majority of
UK favorite TV soaps such as
‘Emmerdale’, ‘Coronation Street’ and
‘EastEnders’ are filmed in small urban
town film sets.
They may be the most appealing as
they have a ‘personal identity’ (Katz)
with the audience, for example my
questionnaire audience are all from
small urban towns so they will want to
identify with the soap opera.
5. Do you think a soap opera needs a relatable title to the genre?
Is it expected for the tittle of the
soap opera to have a significant
relative meaning. For example the
TV soap opera ‘EastEnders’ is based
upon the lives of working class
people of East end of London
hence the name ‘East Enders’.
Our groups TV soap opera will need
a name which denotes the
significance of the setting and the
inhabitants of people in that area.
6. What marketing strategies do you think will appeal to a wide audience?
Advertisements through viral social
media in general seems to the best way
to gain a wider audience to appeal to
your soap opera.
The majority of my responses give a
strong impression to myself that the
best way to advertise our soap opera
will be through social media.
7. Only a small percentage of my
responses, approximately 14% watch
soap operas on a regular basis. My
responses where all from young people
aged around 17. As the majority of TV
soap operas have larger audience of
middle-aged men and women our soap
opera will try to appeal to a younger
audience as well.
Do you watch soap operas on a daily basis?
8. East Enders and Hollyoaks seem to be the
most appealing to my response audience, my
audience are of a young age which way be
why they chose these soaps as they include a
lot of young characters which they can
‘personally identify’ (Katz) themselves with.
Out of the most popular soaps on TV which soap is the most appealing to
you?
9. How often do you buy soap opera magazines?
Over 70% of my responses suggest
to me that soap opera magazines
are not an attraction to a majority
of younger people similar to the
ones who took my survey. Soap
opera magazines are not regularly
bought by many people because of
there tacky and cheap appearance.
10. What themes in soap operas do you find the most interesting?
A common theme of ‘murder’
seemed to appear quite
frequently as a response to this
question.
A lot of ongoing TV soap operas
such as EastEnders and
Emmerdale contain similar
themes as they seem to be
popular with older/middle aged
audiences.
11. What class do you think soap operas are aimed towards ?
The responses to this where
quite surprising as I expected
the majority to vote middle
class, however I can see why
there would be a mixture. This
is because soap operas target
the working class and typical 9-
5 worker which can categorize
under lower and middle class
people.
A majority of lifestyles of
characters within soap operas
consist of working class people.
This is why lower and middle
class can relate as they can
‘familiarize’ and ‘personally
identify’ with themselves (Katz).
12. Conclusion
The responses to this survey have given me a wide
idea on the types audiences that watch soap operas.
For example a large majority of people preferred
soap operas being set in an urban community,
maybe this is down to the fact that urban areas take
up a majority of an MEDC such as England and are
the most relatable settings.
A majority of lifestyles of characters within soap
operas consist of working class people. This is
why lower and middle class can relate as they
can ‘familiarize’ and ‘personally identify’ with
themselves (Katz). The overall majority of my
responses where from working class
backgrounds.
Photos depicting
evidence of my survey
being carried out
