Primary research involves directly questioning a target audience to inform planning, while secondary research uses existing audience data. An analysis of three horror/thriller films found that the 15-24 age group was the most common viewers, making up over half the audience for The Haunting in Connecticut. For Insidious and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, this age group was also the primary viewers due to teenagers' interest in the genres. The gender ratios varied by film but were generally evenly split between male and female viewers.

1. Target Audience
Research

2. The two types of research
• Primary - questioning members of your target
audience and using their responses to inform
your planning
• Secondary – Using existing audience profile
data to inform your planning

3. The Haunting in Connecticut
For this film, the most popular
age group was 15-24 that went
to see the film, this is at 56%.
This portrays that the genre of
the film, horror/thriller, is most
popular with teenagers/young
adults. There are more males
than females that watched this
film however, they are quite
even results at male being 56%
and female at 44%. This is
because men tend to react to
horrors/thrillers better without
being scared.

4. Insidious
For the film Insidious, the main age
group that watched this was 15-24,
this is because horror/thriller movies
tend to appeal to teenagers rather
than adults, also, the film is a rating
of 15, therefore, children younger
than this aren’t allowed to watch it
anyway, as it’s too scary. There are
more women than men who
watched insidious however, they are
very close.

5. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
The last film, The Exorcism of Emily
Rose is most popular with the ages of
15-24, this is due to the fact that
teenagers tend to have more interest
in horror/thriller films for the
adrenaline rush it gives them. Also,
the male and female ratio is fairly
even, this is because the film isn’t
aimed at a certain gender.