Audience & Audience Interpretation (first teaching 2022) Notes

The vast majority of media products will appeal to more than one audience grouping.

So while it is important for producers to understand their core target audience, they must also be on the lookout for groups that are, perhaps unexpectedly, also highly engaged with a particular media product.

In doing this, producers are considering the primary audience for a product and the secondary audience:

• Primary audience – the largest, most dominant audience group for a particular media product. Producers will consider this group to be the target audience.
• Secondary audience – a group that consumes a media product even though that group is not considered the main target audience. This group can affect consumption statistics if not accounted for.

Examples

Audience profiling

Audience profiling is when producers create a detailed breakdown of different audience groups. They then form categories that reveal which groups are most likely to be interested in a particular media text. 

Tip: These are the key factors you will need to consider. However, this list is by no means exhaustive. You may find there are other elements that determine how media audiences are categorised.

Demographics: breaking it down further... social grades

When looking at demographics in terms of social class / occupation, we can use the social grading system. 

This is a list of categories used to break down the social class system. It was put forward by the National Readership Society (NRS) and is used by many media industries to further classify audiences.

The categories are shown below:

• A: Upper middle class, e.g. higher managerial, doctors, lawyers
• B: Middle class, e.g. teachers or middle management
• C1: Lower middle class, e.g. admin 
• C2: Skilled manual workers, e.g. electricians 
• D: Working class, e.g. waiters
• E: Lower/Non-working class, e.g. unemployed

Why is audience profiling important?

• It allows producers to create media products that fulfil the wants and needs of the target audience
• Minimises the risk of the target audience rejecting the product – this saves time and money in the long term
• Psychographic profiling enables producers to find out how consumers act and to discover what their core interests are
• If producers can demonstrate an understanding of their target audience they can form partnerships with sponsors who share a similar target audience – this will lead to greater advertising revenue
• If producers find that their product appeals to an unexpected demographic, they can adapt the product in order to appeal to this group more directly

Audience statistics refers to any form of audience research conducted through the collection of numerical data.

Media producers use this form of research to get an accurate sense of how people are engaging with their products.

Producers will often present these statistics to potential advertising partners, who can then determine whether the core audience of the media text aligns with the demographics they are targeting through their advertising strategy. If they align, a partnership is formed.

Statistical data is often collected by independent companies that have no stake in the success of the media products they are studying:

• RAJAR – Radio Joint Audience Research – collects statistical data which records listening figures for 300 radio stations across Britain
• BARB – Broadcasters' Audience Research Board – collects statistical data which records viewing figures for the major British television broadcasting stations, e.g. BBC, ITV, Channel 4
  

You may find it useful to look at examples of statistical data through the following links:

RAJAR – https://www.rajar.co.uk/docs/news/RAJAR_DataRelease_InfographicQ42019.pdf

BARB – https://www.barb.co.uk/news/what-people-watch-edition-2/

Audiences interact with media products in different ways, such as:

Debate has raged over the years as to whether media audiences are active or passive. Throughout the first two thirds of the twentieth century, audiences were generally considered to be passive.

Passive audiences – audiences that consume various types of media without actively engaging with the messages in the text. They are also happy to accept the meaning in a media text on the most basic and superficial level. They are considered a mass, as opposed to a collection of individuals.

In recent years, particularly since the rise of interactive media, producers have come to realise that audiences are more active in the way they consume media.

Active audiences – audiences that actively select the type of media product they want to consume. They are also able to actively engage with and interpret the messages within a media text. They can apply their own interpretations of these messages. There are numerous ways in which modern audiences are more active than traditional audiences:

• Audiences have a wider range of media products to choose from. They can pick and choose.
• Greater portability and convenience – audiences have a wider range of platforms on which they can consume media
• Audiences have various social media outlets on which they can review and comment on media texts – Twitter is a key example of this
• Developments in technology have made it easier for audiences to create ‘consumer-generated content’, from YouTube vlogs to online articles
• Audiences are actively encouraged to phone in on radio shows, vote for their favourite contestants on television shows and email their own stories to news publishers

In order to create a successful media product, you have to consider the ways in which different audiences might consume your product.

• Information: e.g. BBC World Service informs audiences of the latest news and events.
• Entertainment/Escapism: e.g. The James Bond action films offer audiences both entertainment and escapism from the boredom of daily life.
• Personal identity: e.g. Many people read tabloid newspapers to have their political opinions reaffirmed.
• Social interaction: e.g. Many video games allow audiences to compete with their friends and exchange tactics.