The document discusses audiences for media texts. It defines an audience as individuals or groups that consume media. Audiences can be mass or niche. Mass audiences consume mainstream popular texts, while niche audiences are smaller but influential groups with unique interests. Categorizing audiences is important for targeting advertising and understanding who consumes what types of media texts. New technologies have fragmented audiences across multiple platforms. Researchers use both quantitative and qualitative methods to measure and understand audience sizes and characteristics.

1. AUDIENCES
AIM: By the end of the presentation, you will understand
what an audience is, know the difference between mass
and niche audiences, and understand how and why
audiences are categorized.
Created by Sarah Cullum for www.alevelmedia.co.uk

2. What is an audience?
• An individual or collective group of people who
read or consume any media text
• Examples: Radio listeners, Television viewers,
Newspaper and magazine readers, Web traffic on
web sites.
• Can you think of any other types of
audiences?

3. Why are audiences important?
•Without audiences there would be no media.
•Media organizations produce media texts to make profit –
no audience = no profit.
•The mass media is becoming more competitive than ever
to attract more and more audiences in different ways and
stay profitable.

4. Impact of New Technology on Audiences
• Old media (TV, Print, Radio) which used to have
high audience numbers must now work harder to
maintain audience numbers.
• Digital technology has also led to an increasing
uncertainty over how we define an audience, with
the general agreement that a large group of people
reading the same thing at the same time is outdated
and that audiences are now ‘fragmented’.

5. Fragmented audience
• The division of audiences into smaller groups due to the
variety of media outlets.
• EXAMPLE:Newspapers and magazines – you can now
view the hard copy AND online version (sometimes free).
• The aim is to hit as many people as possible/sell more
copies/generate a larger audience. But measuring that
audience becomes hard! You may have some people that
only look online, some that only read the hard copy, or
some that do both!

6. So how do institutions continue to
make money?
• Nothing in life is free
• Free apps always have adverts, unless you pay to remove
adds.
• Websites and search engines work hard to target you with
ads whilst you consume ‘free online’ versions of your
media product
• These adverts are carefully constructed and selected for
the primary audience for each text
• With newspapers, printing less copies and switching to
online distribution can reduce production costs. (see your
local newspaper)

7. Types of Audience
• Mass audience – often termed ‘broadcast audience’.
Those who consume mainstream or popular texts such as
soaps or sitcoms. Media and communication that targets
a very large group of people (women, men, children,
adults etc).
• Examples of media with mass audience…

8. Types of Audience
• Niche audience – much smaller but very
influential. A niche audience is a small, select
group of people with a very unique interest.
• Examples of niche publications…

9. Activity 1
• Mass or Niche?

10. Categories
Audiences can be divided into categories
based on social class/grade.
Why do we
categorise
audiences?

11. Psychographics
• Every advertiser wants to target a particular type of
audience. Therefore, media companies produce
texts that target a particular ‘type’ of audience.
• In terms of commercial media, much of their funding
is generated by advertising revenue. Their product
needs to appeal to a specific type of audience so
that advertisers will pay to promote their product.
• Most media products can define their ‘typical’
audience member, often with a psychographic
profile.
• Example http://au.advertising.yahoo.com/our-
network/brands/-/5006012/marie-claire

12. A full list of categories with detailed
notes
• Can be found at
http://www.thinkbox.tv/server/show/nav.914
• For a summary, please look at the following slides

13. What types of media texts would they
consume? Group A
• Lawyers
• Doctors
• Scientists
• Well paid professionals

14. Group B – for each category, think
about income boundaries
• Teachers
• Middle management
• Fairly well paid professionals

15. Group C1 – remember that categories
are not fixed
• Junior management
• Bank clerks
• Nurses
• ‘White collar’ professions

16. Group C2
• Electricians
• Plumbers
• Carpenters
• ‘Blue collar’ professions

17. Group D – some categories
represent audience stereotypes
• Manual workers such as:
• Drivers
• Post sorters

18. Group E - You
• Students
• Unemployed
• Pensioners

19. Activity 2
• 1) Which category (or categories) of audience do the
following media target?
• 2) How and why?

20. Research methods
• How do we measure media audiences?
• Sales, subscriptions, ratings, figures
• Who measures audiences?
• NRS
• ABC
• BARB
• RAJAR
• (these are just some of the organisations who monitor
audience sizes).
• http://www.thinkbox.tv/server/show/nav.836
TASK: Find out about these companies, and see if you can find some more.

21. New Media
• Can you think of any NEW ways in which we can
measure audience? Think about the picture below…
• Facebook and other social network sites – ‘like’
• Online forums – comments tools
• Views on YouTube & Google +1
• Twitter trends
• CASE STUDY: Rebecca Black
• How did a $4000 vanity video become a part of modern
pop culture?

22. Research
• When looking at audiences, there are two main types of research:
• Quantitative research – e.g. questionnaires.
• Number based
• Closed questions to generate exact answers
• Very factual
• Qualitative research – e.g. interviews, focus groups
• Analysis of existing products
• Open questions to generate answers open to interpretation
• Individual preferences

23. Activity 1 model answers
• Sky Sports – arguably mass audience as it covers a range
of sports, but still a subscription service.
• MAN Utd TV is also more niche and subscription service
based, however, the global following/support for the team
could be described as mass audience.
• Antiques roadshow – whilst niche in terms of specialist
interest, the fact that it is shown at prime time at
weekends and features presenter Fiona Bruce, tells us
that the programme can appeal to a wide range of
audiences who might have items in their home, boot
sellers and ebay fanatics.
• Tip – keep an open mind!

24. Breakdown of TV audiences
• Taken from Thinkbox.tv
http://www.thinkbox.tv/server/show/nav.1252/
• Activity 2 – model answers:
• Most of the texts have primary and secondary
audiences.
• Big Brother will largely attract students and those
in groups c2 & D. Given the nature and content
of material in the program and the synergy of
coverage that the Big Brother gets in The Star
(also owned by Richard Desmond who controls
a large part of Channel 5) you can see how
synergy works. This media text is clearly
addressing the needs of a certain type of viewer
and reader.