The document discusses using questionnaires and research to identify a target audience for a new music magazine. It analyzes questionnaire responses about things like age, music preferences, and spending habits to determine that the target audience is 13-15 year olds who enjoy R&B music. While the ethnicity of respondents was mixed, this age group and music preference provides clarity on who the magazine aims to reach. Feedback on an early version of the magazine was also positive from the target demographic.
2. Finding my Target Audience
In order to find the perfect target audience for my magazine I will have to carry
out some primary and secondary research. For my primary research I am going
to carry out a questionnaire which I will give to thirty completely different people
giving me a much better understanding of who my target audience are. In my
questionnaire I will ask questions which are shown individually below then put
them into graphs making my data collected easier to understand. For my
secondary research I will look up on the Katz and Blumler theory.
Age?
Gender?
Ethnicity?
How often do they buy a music magazine?
Favourite music genre?
Where they buy there magazines from?
How much do they spend on a magazine?
What regular features would they like to see in a magazine?
3. Questionnaire
AGE
13-15 16-18 19-21 22-24 25+
GENDER
Male Female
ETHNICITY
Caucasian African Asian European Other………………………………………………………………………………
HOW OFTEN DO YOU BUY A MUSIC MAGAZINE?
Dailey Weekly Monthly Rarely
WHAT IS YOUR FAVIORATE MUSIC GENRE?
HIP-HOP Classic R&B Bangrah Indie Other…………………………………………………………………………………………
WHERE DO YOU BUY YOUR MAGZINES FROM?
Newsagents Online Co-Op Magazine Shop Supermarket
HOW MUCH DO YOU SPEND ON A MUSIC MAGAZINE?
£0-£1.99 £2-£3.99 £4-£5.99 £6+
WHAT REGULAR FEATURES DO YOU LIKE TO SEEIN A MUSIC MAGAZINE?
Free Merchandise Celebrity Interviews Music Other………………………………………………………………………………………………
4. Questionnaire Data 1
14
I can clearly see that the majority of the
thirty people I asked prefer to listen to
12
R&B than any other music genre with
10
Hip Hop Hip Hop not far behind. Also Indie was
8
Classic
R&B
not very popular within the people who I
6
Bangrah
Indie
handed the questionnaire to.
Other
4
2
0
1
5. Questionnaire Data 2
The majority of people who I took
16
part in my questionnaire were
14
between the ages of 13-15. The fact
12
10
13-15 that the most of the people were
8
16-18
19-21 13-15 and R&B was top of the music
6
22-24
26+
genre table gives me a large
4
understanding of what age my
2
magazine is targeted at.
0
1
6. Questionnaire Data 3
7
The ethnicity was very easily split
6
although this way seems fairer it
5
hasn’t give me a full understanding
4
Caucasion
African
of which ethnicity I am aiming my
Asian
European
magazine at.
3
Other
2
1
0
1
7. Demographics
Commonly examined demographics
include gender, race, age, disabilities,
mobility, home ownership, employment
status, and even location.
Demographics are about the population
of a region and the culture of the people
there.
8. Demographic Graph
A. Upper middle Class. Higher managerial, administrative or
professional
B. Middle Class. Intermediate managerial, administrative or
professional
C1. Lower middle Class. Supervisory or clerical and junior
managerial, administrative or professional
C2. Skilled Working Class. Skilled manual workers
D. Working Class. Semi and unskilled manual workers
E. Lowest levels of subsistence. Casual or lowest grade
workers, pensioners and others who depend on
the welfare state for their income
9. Audience Research
Audience Engagement: This describes how an audience interacts with a media
text. Different people react in different ways to the same text.
Audience Expectations: These are the advance ideas an audience may have
about a text. This particularly applies to genre pieces. Don’t forget that
producers often play with or deliberately shatter audience expectations.
Audience Foreknowledge: This is the definite which an audience brings to a
media product.
Audience Identification: This is the way in which audiences feel connected to
the particular media text, in that they feel it directly expresses their attitude or
lifestyle.
Audience Placement: This is the range of strategies media producers use to
directly target a particular audience and make them feel that the media text is
specially ‘for them’.
Audience Research: Measuring an audience is very important to all media
institutions. Research is one at all stages of production of a media text and once
produced, audience will be continually monitored.
10. Katz & Blumler Theory
The gratification theory is a popular approach to understanding
mass communication. It concentrates more on the question
‘What do people do with the media’ rather than ‘what media
does to the people’ aiming it at the audience and thinking more
about what they want. The approach suggests that people use
specific media to fulfil there needs. For example not everyone
who buy magazines buy them to read, they buy them as part as
a fashion status or to fit in to a certain crowd or stereo type. A
good example of this would be social status.
11. Audience Reaction
After giving out thirty questionnaires i got an idea of the type of people
who would enjoy reading my magazine. I asked these particular people
for an opinion on my magazine, these are some of the responses I
got…
‘The colour scheme goes very well with the style of genre and I think it will stn out to people
interested in buying your magazine’
‘A lot of the cover lines have been worded an laid out on your front cover very well’
‘I like what you’ve done with the inside pages because the colour scheme goes very well
with the artist’
‘I think that your magazine is a good price and your target audience will pay that price for it’
‘The style and layout will appeal to your target audience’
12. Audience Summary
Although there will be a wide range of people wanting
to buy my magazine I believe that after doing my
primary and secondary data I will target my magazine
at 13-15 year olds. The ethnicity of my target
audience is very mixed which will be an advantage
selling it. All my target audience who I asked gave me
positive feedback about my magazine. Due to the
age of my target audience I will have to depend on
the social class E to buy my magazine which could
leave my magazine in a disadvantage because some
of my target audience may not have the money to
buy monthly additions.