The document summarizes the results of a focus group conducted to understand the target audience for a new television soap opera. The focus group asked questions about the audience's media consumption habits, likes/dislikes of existing soaps, and opinions on social issues. Key findings included that the audience prefers realistic crime storylines set in the present day that feature relatable characters similar to themselves. They want the soap to avoid unrealistic plots and address issues like underage drinking and animal testing in a negative light.

1. Audience Profile-
results of my focus group

2. Uses and Gratification- Why do people watch TV Soap Operas?
A study shows that audiences watch soaps for three main reasons; Uses and Gratifications (U&G), parasocial
interaction (PSI) and identification (ID). These are all reasons as to why an audience watches a particular soap and is
not solely based on content. The study shows that there are four different areas which could contribute to the decision
of which soap someone wants to watch, including:
Integration and Social Interaction
• gaining insight into circumstances of others;
social empathy
• identifying with others and gaining a sense
of belonging
• finding a basis for conversation and social
interaction
• having a substitute for real-life
companionship
• helping to carry out social roles
• enabling one to connect with family, friends
and society
Entertainment
• escaping, or being diverted, from
problems
• relaxing
• getting intrinsic cultural or aesthetic
enjoyment
• filling time
• emotional release
http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/short/usegrat.htm

3. Uses and Gratification- Why do people watch TV
Soap Operas?
Richard Kilborn came up with many different reasons as to why people watch soaps:
Regular part of
domestic routine
and entertaining
reward for work
Used for social and
personal
interaction
Fulfilling
individuals needs,
a way of choosing
to be alone
Identification and
involvement with
characters
Escapist fantasy
Critical game
involving previous
knowledge
Focus of debate on
topical issue
http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/short/usegrat.htm

4. Question 1
What do you do in your free time?
During my focus group, I asked my audience what they did in their free time to try and
understand what their lifestyle is like and what they enjoy. This will help me to
understand the type of people they are like which I can use to base my characters on.
My results showed me that my audience like to play sports such as football and
athletics. One audience member also said that they have a lot of homework, which
gives me the idea that they are hardworking. I can use this information to decide what
type of characters I want to include in my trailer, and by making them similar to my
target audience will make them more realistic and relatable as they have similar
interests.

5. Question 2
What soaps do you enjoy the most and why?
I asked this question to my focus group to help get an idea of the types of television
programmes they like to watch. One audience member replied with The Big Bang
Theory and Scrubs, which gives me the idea that they enjoy comical shows that make
them laugh. The other audience member said that they enjoyed Hollyoaks because it
included attractive females. This gives me the idea that by including a female character
that is pretty will help to make the soap more appealing to a male audience, and adding
humour will ensure it is still appealing to females as well.

6. Question 3
What types of storylines do you like the most? Why?
By asking them what type of storyline my audience like I can understand what I can
include in my soap to make it entertaining for the audience, as well as understanding
why they like them. When asked this question, my audience member stated that they
enjoy storylines based around crime, as they are not too far fetched. This gives me the
idea that one of the storylines used in my trailer could be about a crime, which will
appeal to audience members who already enjoy this type of storyline. This storyline will
also help to make my soap appear realistic, which is one of the conventions of the soap
genre.

7. Question 4
Do you prefer programmes set in the present or the past?
I decided to ask my audience whether or not they preferred programmes set in the past
or the present as I wanted to understand the type of programme they wanted to see.
Some shows like How I Met Your Mother act as though there is a character telling the
show back to the audience, whereas many soaps are set in the present day. In an
attempt to make my soap more unique I suggested a soap set in the past, but my results
show me that without even thinking about it my audience prefer shows in the present,
meaning that it would make sense for me to set my soap in the present day to make it
more realistic.

8. Question 5
Why do you watch soaps?
I also wanted to find out a more in depth reason as to why my audience watch the
soaps that they do. If I am able to understand this then I can try and incorporate these
factors into my soap trailer to ensure that my audience will enjoy it. When I asked my
audience this question they replied that their partner makes them watch, suggesting
that couples watch Hollyoaks. When planning my soap trailer I can take this into
account as I could include narrative that can be relatable for couples watching the soap.
My audience also said that they watch soaps because they are easy to relate to, which
shows that when planning my soap I need to concentrate on making my soap as
relatable as possible as this is why my audience will tune in to watch the soap trailer.

9. Question 6
Would you like a soap based entirely on your age group? Why?
I asked this question to my focus group as this is the main idea that I have for my soap. I
can use my focus group to see if my audience would be interested in watching a soap
that illustrates this idea. My audience members said that they would be interested in a
soap based entirely on their age group as it is unique and unlike other soaps. Another
audience member said that they would like a show that focuses on their profession as a
teacher, and although I think this is a good idea, it would be aimed at a niche audience
instead of the 16-25 age group I intended. As most of this audience will not yet have a
job in teaching or may dislike school, a soap based around teachers would not appeal to
them. Instead, I will take this idea and ensure that there is a larger range of characters
that will appeal to more people. For example, the characters could have jobs in a
different socioeconomic category, such as skilled manual labour, teacher or a student
that is unemployed. This means that even people who are teachers could find the soap
appealing as there is at least one character that they can relate to.

10. Question 7
What shops do you like?
This question will give me an idea of the type of money my audience have and what
they are willing to spend. This information is important as I can understand the earnings
and lifestyle of my audience and base my characters around them. When asked this
question, my audience members replied that they shopped at places like H&M, New
Look and Topshop. These are high street stores which show me that my audience will
usually shop in a local town or large shopping centre, wearing main stream clothes that
cost no more than £50. This gives me an idea of what locations my audience would
spend time in, and where I could base my soap to make it appear as though my
characters live in a realistic world similar to my audiences.

11. Question 8
What do you deem inappropriate within society?
I wanted to ask my audience what they deem as inappropriate as the basis for the
drama of my soap narrative will be focusing on these subjects. If I was to present
storylines in a negative way and my audience were to think that these subjects weren’t
actually that bad, then the soap will not appeal to them as they do not share the same
thoughts. This links to the audience reception theory by Stuart Hall, which states that
different audience members ‘read’ media products in different ways. I want my
audience to have a dominant reading which means that they agree with the way I
portray storylines as this will make the soap more appealing to them.

12. Question 9
What things are most important to you?
It is important to understand this type of attribute as I can use this information as a
basis for narrative. If I can understand what is important to my target audience then I
know what type of narrative will create an emotional response for my audience. For
example, if family is important to my audience then I know that a storyline based on
one like Lucy Beales in Eastenders where a family member was murdered, will cause an
emotional response from the audience as it is important to them so they will be able to
empathise with the characters. My interviews told me that family, friends, relationships
and money are all important factors to my audience, so I can include these in my soap
to make it more appealing to the audience, as they can relate to the storylines.

13. Question 10
What would you change about already existing soaps? Why?
This question will help me to understand what my audience members dislike about
soaps, and this will tell me what I can avoid adding so that my trailer will be appealing
to my audience. My audience feedback told me that they do not like narrative that is
too far fetched so would make the soap more realistic and therefore more relatable.
They also said that they would want to see storylines that are more relevant to them
sop that they could relate to them. In conclusion, I now know that my audience want to
see a soap that is more relatable to them, so I will try to include narrative that is very
similar to the lives of the target audience to ensure that they will be able to relate to
the storylines. In my focus group, my audience replied that they felt underage and binge
drinking was unacceptable, as well as animal testing. I will try to incorporate these
themes into my narrative to make my trailer more appealing to my target audience as
the soap will portray them in a negative way to influence the thoughts of the audience.