Emma Walker conducted a survey to understand audience preferences for soap operas. The majority of respondents were ages 14-19 and watched soap operas weekly or occasionally. Most would learn about new soap operas through TV ads. Respondents expected soap opera settings to be in close-knit communities and characters to display emotions like anger and drama. They preferred soap operas to air weeknights between 8-9pm, targeting young adult and adult audiences. Respondents said they watch soap operas most for escapism, and including a strong female character could attract more male viewers. Unexpectedly, few wanted soap operas to be completely realistic, preferring entertainment elements.

1. Primary Research Results
Name: Emma Walker
Candidate Number: 1252
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135

2. Evidence of someone filling out my
survey

3. My first question was ‘What is your age?’, 75% of the answers were in the region of 14-
19 years old with one person or 6.25% between 31-35 years old, one person or 6.25%
between 20-25 years old and two people or 12.50% 41+ years old. This means I have a
larger range of ages answering this survey which will be good to see how soap operas
could appeal to more age ranges.

4. My second question was ‘How often do you watch soap opera’s?’ 31.25% of the
responses said weekly, 25% said occasionally, 18.75% said rarely and 25% said none. This
means that the majority of the respondents watch soap operas at least occasionally,
meaning they will be on good terms to answer my questions. Although, it is helpful to
have people who don’t watch soap operas answering my survey as I will be able to find
out why it doesn’t appeal to them and maybe something that needs to be improved.

5. The third question I asked was ‘What is the most likely way in which you will hear
about the release of a new soap opera?’ and in response 68.75% said through adverts
on the TV, 25% said through trailers on YouTube, 6.25% said through adverts in a
magazine or newspaper and no one suggested any other options. This shows that
adverts on the TV is the most successful way to advertise a new soap opera as majority
of people said this is how they find out about new soap operas.

6. The fourth question I asked was ‘What setting would you expect a soap opera to be in?’
and the most frequent occurring response was in a town/village square or a place which
revolves around a close community. This connotes that people like the communal vibe
that is set in a soap opera most commonly.

7. The fifth question I asked was ‘What characteristics would you stereotypically expect to see
displayed by characters of a soap opera?’. Most of the responses were very similar, they ran
along the lines of violent, angry, jealous and overdramatic. This connotes the sorts of moods
people expect from a soap opera and most commonly what they enjoy to see. Therefore I
can use this research to help me plan the moods of characters in my trailer.

8. The sixth question I asked was ‘What time would you prefer a soap opera you were going
to watch to be shown? (times in pm)’. For this question the response was 100% between
8 and 9 o’clock in the evening. This answer can also give me a hint to what sort of age
range soap operas appeal to most, as it rules out younger children as they are not likely to
be watching TV this late.

9. The seventh question I asked was ‘What age range would you suggest as the target
audience for a soap opera?’ and majority of the answers suggested young adults and
adults as the main target audience group with a few people suggesting teenagers also.
This helps me to know what age range I should target my soap opera at.

10. The eighth question I asked was ‘What do you think is the reason people watch soap
operas?’. 25% of people asked said realism, 18.75% said interaction and 56.25% said
escapism. This signifies (De Saussure) that the reasons for people watching soap operas
and can help me in choosing what plot I could use for my soap opera trailer.

11. The ninth question I asked was ‘What do you think a soap opera could contain to
attract a male audience?’ there was a variety of answers for this question but there
was still a clear pattern. This pattern established the answers a female ‘sex icon’ and
more dominant male characters than female characters. This will help me to include
elements into my trailer such as violence, which will help to attract a male audience as
well as female audience.

12. The last question I asked was ‘Which would you prefer a soap opera to be?’.
Shockingly only 6.25% of people asked said completely relatable to their life,
with 81.25% saying slightly relatable to your life with some elements added for
entertainment and 12.50% saying completely unrelatable to your life. This shows
that not many people must watch soap operas for realism and that they watch it
mainly for entertainment. This means I can now include elements in the plot for
my trailer which will entertain the audience rather than making it completely
relatable.

13. Conclusion
In conclusion my results were more or less along the lines of what I
was expecting. However, there were some results I collected which
were unexpected. For example, when asked if they would prefer a
soap opera to be completely relatable to their life, slightly relatable to
their life with some elements added for entertainment or completely
unrelatable to their life the least common answer was in fact
completely relatable to their life. This contradicts stereotypical views
that working class people watch soap operas as they feel it relates to
their life.
Overall, the analysis of my survey results allowed me to see what the
audience look for in a soap opera but also what elements could be
included, such as more female antagonists rather than majority of
male antagonists, in order to attract a male audience as well as the
female audience soap operas already attract.