House of Teen Tearaways

Research and Findings

Outline of Research

The aim for this brief is to research into different channels on the TV and internet that would be interested in commissioning a proposed documentary about young teen tearaways, and then present the findings to the client in a presentation.

In order to better understand which channel would be better suited for the client I must look into audience demographics that cover statistics over what the gender, age and viewing habits are of the proposed channel audience.

The aim is to look at several different channels and compare them in order to see one’s strong points over another, furthermore, comparing them to our own research (which will be gathered in the form of a questionnaire handed to 100 random subjects.)

What Do We Expect?

With the proposed brief outlining major points about the documentary (House of Teen Tearaways) we have idea’s about what to look for in audience demographics.

As the focus will be on young people aged 15-30 we expect that a very similar audience age range will watch the documentary.

With the audience being young adults, we expect that the channel likely to commission the documentary will have a specifically ‘young adult’ target audience.

With there being scenes of an explicit nature (sex, drugs, violence and strong language) we expect that an older audience (mainly 60+) will not be interested in the program.

As the program will be set in the North West, we expect that people in the North West will watch the program in order to relate.

BARB

Who are BARB?

BARB (broadcasters audience research board) is responsible for delivering a measurement system for audiences across the UK.

What do they look at?

1. Who is watching? (Meaning who is in the room watching the programme of interest)

2. What are they watching? (As in what programme are they watching)

3. When are they watching? (What time of the day?)

4. Which screen are they watching on? (For example, a laptop, a television, a phone etc.)

5. How did the content get to the screen? (It could have been transmitted through the Internet, via satellite, cable and IP, video recorder and console)

Most Viewed Channels in Homes

Female Male

ITV2 Dave

Channel 4 BBC Three

E4 Sky 1

5* Comedy Central

Sky Living Film4

Under 34 years old:

Female Male

ITV GOLD

ITV3 BBC One

More4 BBC Two

Channel 5 BBC Four

5 USA ITV 4

Over 35 years old:

Who are the BBC?

The BBC was originally founded by a royal charter (which is used to establish notable organisations) and acts as a public service broadcaster for Britain; providing 10 national channels on TV and 10 national radio stations.

The TV Channels

BBC One – The main flagship channel for the BBC; BBC One deal in programs with genres such as current affairs, entertainment, drama and comedy.

BBC Two – This channel aims to provide for a wide range of adult audiences, with the greatest educational programming of the BBC it shows genres such as comedy, drama and arts entertainment.

BBC Three – Appealing to the age range of 16 to mid-30’s, this channel excels in the support of new and upcoming British talent in areas such as comedy, drama and factual programming.

BBC Four – This is the BBC’s channel that is dedicated to arts, music and culture. They use high quality programming to approach a wider range of subject.

BBC HD – This is the high-definition network for the BBC, covering genres including entertainment, comedy, nature, arts and culture and drama.

BBC Alba – This is a channel that can be accessed by digital TV and the BBC iPlayer, broadcasting documentaries, music and sports programmes daily.

The Top 10 Programs this Decade

TV Through the Week

Monday: Tuesday:

Wednesday: Thursday:

Friday: Saturday:

Who are ITV?

ITV are the only UK broadcaster to target viewing from national to micro regional scales. As part of the North West, Cheshire is part of the Granada region of ITV and reaches up to 85% of adults (4,463,000

adults.)

The TV Channels

ITV – The channel of high quality, popular television; covering genres including drama, sport, news, entertainment and factual series.

ITV2 – The channel of entertainment for young people; it includes genres such as comedies, panel shows, acquisitions and movies.

ITV3 – A channel dedicated to original ITV drama series but also showing factual and entertainment programs.

ITV4 – This channel includes a mixture of genres ranging between iconic movies, live sport, cult classics and American shows.

ITV Encore – A channel dedicated solely to drama.

ITVBe – A new channel dedicated to entertainment and lifestyle focusing on the lives of real people.

Top 10 Programs this Decade

TV Through the Week

Monday: Tuesday:

Wednesday: Thursday:

Friday: Saturday:

Who are Channel 4?

Channel 4 have a remit to be experimental, innovating and very distinct in what they show on their channel and have a

priority to be diverse in order to give effective public service.  

The channel 4 networks are a founder and member of the ‘creative diversity network’ (the CDN), the CDN was put in place in order to include and appeal to any range of people

despite their gender, age, ethnicity and disability.

Who Do They Reach?

Over half of the UK’s 16-24 year olds register with channel 4 and has a total of 10 million registered viewers across

the UK (that’s just over 1 sixth of the population and

includes one in every two 16-24 year olds.)

TV Through the Week

Monday: Tuesday:

Wednesday: Thursday:

Friday: Saturday:

Production Companies

back2back – This production company produces mainly celebrity documentaries.

Lambent Productions – This company is diverse and will produce documentaries about everyday people.

Spectacle – An independent TV production company specializing in documentary and community-led journalism.

What Were our Results?

50%50%

Gender

Male Female

The results we got for how many people were

male or female were split even with 50/50%.

79%

1%5%

11%

3%1%

AgeAge 16-24Age 25-34 Age 35-44Age 45-54Age 55-64Age 65+

The majority of people who answered the survey were aged

between 16 and 24 (79%)

60%31%

9%

Occupation

Student Working Unemployeed

It is clear to see that most of the people who answered the survey are students (60% of people

answering so.)

…Continued

BBC1 BBC2 BBC3 ITV C4 C5 Other

19

13

22

17

30

16 15

Channels used to watch doc-umentaries

The most popular channel to watch documentaries was marked at Channel 4 with 30 marks, this seems appropriate as over half of the

UK’s 16-24 year olds have registered with Channel 4.

Who Do We Recommend?

From looking at all of the channels, it is apparent that the most suitable channel for the proposed

brief would be channel 4. This conclusion is based on findings from our survey results consisting of 80 random participants. Half of the survey were male

and the other half female, 60% of those people answering were students, and 79% were aged

between 16 and 24.

30 people from the 80 said that they use Channel 4 to watch documentaries and Channel 4 reach over

half of the UK’s 16 to 24 year olds meaning that they are the more obvious channel for our surveyed

audience.