Soap opera audiences tend to be quite broad, ranging from ages 16-80. While both male and female viewers watch soap operas, they have traditionally appealed more to women due to their focus on domestic storylines and strong female characters. The characters in soap operas predominantly come from middle-lower class backgrounds, so the genre tends to attract viewers from C1-E socioeconomic groups who can relate to the working class experiences portrayed. Younger viewers of soap operas like Hollyoaks may find characters they can identify with personally, while older EastEnders audiences appreciate the depiction of more mainstream lives that resemble their own experiences.

1. Soap Opera Genre –
Target Audience
Name: Alex Westbrook
Candidate Number: 3152
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio

2. Hartley's 7 subjectivities
Age - The demographic for the audience of a soap opera tends to be a rather wide demographic of around 16-
80 due to the very nature of a soap in that they have complex storylines with characters of all ages and
therefore the show interests those of all ages.
Gender – With regards to gender soap operas typically see a higher number of female viewers due to the the
topic being, if conforming to Rebecca Feasey (2007) who stated that soaps tend to fixate around “the home,
the family, domestic tribulations and strong women and as such it has long been said to appeal to the female
viewer”, more relatable to women.
Class – Within a soap opera the characters are predominantly middle-lower class and simply because of this
attract and appeal more to a middle-lower class audience.
Ethnicity – There is no real intentional/meaningful demographic for the ethnicity of viewers of soap operas as
they are immensely ethnically and culturally diverse.
Socio-economic needs
Due to, as previously stated, the characters and storylines of soap operas the stereotypical viewer would be
categorized into C1-E groups. This is because characters within soap operas tend to fall into similar/the same
groups, with the majority of them coming from a working class background and some being
pensioners/students. Thus,
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
The typical audience of Eastenders and hollyoaks are ‘mainstreamers’ as the plot surrounds ‘mainstream’ life
and therefore the audience can associate and appreciate the soap opera more so than those who perhaps have
not had similar experiences.
Eastenders and Hollyoaks

3. Psychographics
The majority of consumers of Eastenders and hollyoaks tend to either be in education
in one way or another or leading a ‘typical’ adult life and as a result certain actions or
beliefs of characters of a similar age may be appealing to the audience and they may
feel that in order to be accepted they must be the same.
Katz
Personal identity – younger viewers of hollyoaks may utilise and relate to certain
issues and feelings of characters.
Diversion – The typical audience of eastenders may struggle to find diversity within
the soap opera and they can often personally relate to many of the issues and topics
and therefore it does not stray too far from their actual life.