Audience Research And Target Audience

By Hamza Butt

Finding my Target Finding my Target AudienceAudience

To attract the right audience towards my magazine, I will have to do some research so then I can find out what my target audience are wanting , also I will use the same conventions used by the magazines which I have analysed and deconstructed, to do this research I will carry out a small questionnaire. The initiative behind the questionnaire is to find out who my target audience are and what features they want to see in my magazine and what they are looking for from my magazine. Once I find out who my target audience are I will become even more determine to make this magazine as I will know which type of audience I am providing for as then it will become clear to me what I have to put in my magazine and the things that I will not need in my magazine, to show wider range of my results and my audience I will make a graph which will show the features of the magazine which are most popular with my audience. In the questionnaire I will ask questions which are relevant towards the magazine and also relevant towards my research on how my audiences will react towards my magazine. The questions will range from

•Age •Gender •Ethnicity •Prices paid by consumers for magazines •How often do you buy magazines •What genre’s of music do you prefer •Where do you usually buy magazines from •What regular features would customers like to see in my magazine

QuestionnQuestionnaireaire

Age: (Please tick one box)15- 17 18-20 21-22 23+ Gender: (Please tick one box) Male FemaleWhat is your ethnicity ? (Please tick one box) Or write if not any of the belowPakistani Bangladeshi Indian CaucasianHow much do you pay for your magazine? (Please tick one box)£1-£3 £4-£6 £7-£9 £10+ How often do you buy a music magazine? Daily Weekly Monthly RarelyWhat genre's of music do you prefer ? (Please tick one box) RnB Hip hop Bhangra Classic Indie Rap Where do you usually buy magazines from? (Please tick one box) Newsagent Co-op Supermarkets Entertainment stores What regulars features would you like to see in magazines ? (Please tick one box) Interviews Free Product Celebrity Gossip Music

Questionnaire Questionnaire DataData

Here is the first set of my results from my questionnaire presented in a graph, this bar graph tells me that out of the 30 people who I handed the questionnaire out to, 15 of them people preferred the Bhangra genre of music, also the questionnaire shows that the people who I handed the questionnaire out to had very varied taste for music as their were 7 people who preferred RnB and 5 people who preferred hip hop

15

7

5

0

3

0

5

10

15

What Genre of Music Do You Prefer

Bhangra RnB Hip Hop Classic Indie

Bhangra 15

RnB 7

Hip Hop 5

Classic 0

Indie 3

Number of People

Questionnaire Questionnaire DataData

This graph tells me that my target audience ranges from an older group to a younger age group of people as you can see that I asked people of different ages, with the majority of people being young who were interested in the Bhangra music, this was people who ranged from the age of 15-25, this shows that my target audience starts from young youths to middle aged people.

15-2526-35

36-46

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Age Range of Target Audience

15-25 26-35 36-46

15-25 26

26-35 23

36-46 10

Age Of Audience

Questionnaire DataQuestionnaire Data

In my last set of results I have shown what audiences of my magazine and audiences who read magazines on a regular basis want to see more of in the magazine they read and what they want to see in my magazine, after doing the questionnaire and carrying out all other data.

I established that audiences who are going to being reading my magazine would like to see more free products as one of the features which should be included in monthly magazines being bought by them.

0

5

10

15

20

25

Regular features you would like to see

Interviews

Free Products

Celebrity Gossip

Music

Interviews 10

Free Products 25

Celebrity Gossip 20

Music 16

Number of People

DemographicsDemographics

Demographics is the study of us looking at people. It is the most recent statistical characteristics for a population.

Demographic Demographic GraphGraph

•A – This would be people who are rich executives, managers of companies that are well known

•B – This group would be made up of people who are teachers, GP’s, police officers

•C1 – Middle men, trained plumbers working for firms, electricians working for firms.

•C2 – skilled workers, workers under self-employment

•D – unskilled labour, building site, trained brick layer

•E – pensioners, unemployed and university students

•Audience are also looked at in different categories such as:

•Age

•Gender

•Ethnicity

•Location

•Audience Research: Measuring an audience is very important towards all media institutions, the research is done at all stages during the production of the media text.

•Audience Engagement: This tells us how an audience reacts towards a media text, as different people are bound to react differently towards different texts

•Audience expectations: Expectation are advance ideas a audience has towards media text, this is why producers deliberately play with audiences expectations

•Audience Foreknowledge: This is information that an audience has about a media text.

•Audience placement: This is different types of strategies that media producers use to directly target a specific audience

•Audience identification: This helps as it connects to the audience which makes them feel connected towards the media text

Katz & BlumlerKatz & Blumler

TheoryTheory In the 1960’s, media theorist came up with a theory that In the 1960’s, media theorist came up with a theory that audiences made decisions about what media text they would audiences made decisions about what media text they would want know about, passive mass audiences were made up of want know about, passive mass audiences were made up of people who on a regular basis consumed media text for people who on a regular basis consumed media text for different reasons and in different ways, this would mean that different reasons and in different ways, this would mean that when somebody would read a media text it would be for when somebody would read a media text it would be for different individual reasons, for example when a woman different individual reasons, for example when a woman purchases vogue magazine it doesn’t necessarily mean that purchases vogue magazine it doesn’t necessarily mean that she would read it but it could mean that she buys it to keep up she would read it but it could mean that she buys it to keep up with moving times, or just as a fashion statement. It also with moving times, or just as a fashion statement. It also suggested that media texts had following functions such as suggested that media texts had following functions such as surveillance, correlation and entertainment for individuals and surveillance, correlation and entertainment for individuals and society. society.

Audience ReactionAudience Reaction Before the production of my magazine Asian Beatz had begun I carried a questionnaire, I handed this questionnaire out to 30 different people, I did this to determine who my target audience would be and what they are expecting from my Bhangra music magazine. Now that I have produced my magazine I will now ask my target audience what they think about my magazine and their views on it. I will ask my audience if the magazine:

•Has a realistic front cover which resembles to a real music magazine.

•Does my front cover represent the magazine as a good product does it relate to the content included.

•Are my pages easy to understand and easy to relate to.

•Is my magazine at a good standard in comparison to a real media magazine.

Audience response

“I found the front cover to be very appealing to the target audience which Is young Asians”.

“The magazine is very eye catching because of the colours used by the maker”.

“The articles were very interesting”.

“Articles are brilliant they kept me engaged”.

“Asian Beatz is worth its price £2.00”.

Summary of Summary of Target AudienceTarget Audience

After all the research that I have conducted I have come to a conclusion that my target audience is Asian male and females from the ages of 15-25, I have chosen this specific age group because in my graph it shows that the age range of my target audience who the magazine has been produced for is people who are in this age group, this is why I have decided to choose this age group of people for my target audience.