Zeyan Mirza A2 Media Studies 1178

1. Soap Opera Genre –
Audience Research
Name: Zeyan Mirza
Candidate Number: 1178
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio

2. Stereotypical Target Audience
The age for a typical soap opera would be people aged 16-70, this is because people at this age feel that they can
relate to the subjects discussed and acted upon in the program. The main gender for soap operas are normally
females, this is because topics such as love, adultery, rape and topics they feel they can relate too. Rebecca Feasey
(2007) states soap opera genre focuses on “The home, family, domestic tribulations and the strong women and as
such, it has long been said to appeal to the female viewer”. Soap operas would stereotypically be watched by people
of a lower or middle class, this is because the characters represent middle/lower class therefore they are represented
in the audience as the same. People of all ethnicity’s would watch EastEnders, this is because all ethnicities are
present in the program. The people who would typically watch soap operas would be those in the C1-E group, this is
because students and workers would most likely watch this as it is beholds similar situations to what they may find
themselves in, for example most of the characters are working class which therefore attracts a working class audience
as they can relate to the issues presented. Consumers of this text would either be in education or some kind of work
and live a normal lifestyle . However, due to watching the program they may feel as if they have to obey to certain
lifestyle choices of the characters such as gang culture and crime. To seek ‘personal identification’ (Katz), viewers may
be influenced by` characters that are involved in gang crime. They may also watch the soap opera for personal
relationships, the audience may feel like they have a personal relationship with the character as they feel they can
relate to them, for example if a character has gone through an emotional time and you yourself have gone through
something similar you have an instant bond with that character. Soap operas may also be watched to ‘inform and
educate’ (Katz), as people may watch soap operas to gain an understanding of certain events and how to resolve or
overcome crime, emotion or housing abuse for example. Soap operas are usually on during the week from Monday to
Friday, Eastenders for example is on 4 times a week at around 7:30/8pm every day. Psychographic segmentation dived
markets into groups based on social class, lifestyle and personality characteristics. People that watch the soap opera
will look to reflect the individuals characteristics and pattern of living. The majority of people watching soap operas
would be ‘mainstreamers’ these are people that seek security, and tend to be conformist and sentimental. This is the
largest group. However some of the people watching soap operas ,may be ‘strugglers’ these are people that seek
escape and watch soap operas as well as possibly buying alcohol and lottery tickets. In conclusions soap operas appeal
to numerous different demographics meaning the possible target audience is massive.

3. Here is an example of the
time Eastenders is on
(Prime time), which is a
similar time I will look to
broadcast my soap opera
Here is a photo of the
Eastenders cast, as you can
see from the image the
characters portrayed in the
soap opera consist of both
male and female, the
distribution of characters is
very similar showing the
broad target audience of the
soap opera. There are people
of many different ethnic
origins as well as sexualities,
meaning the target audience
have numerous different
aspects of the soap they feel
they can relate too.