A2 Media Research

1. Audiences and Target
Audiences
A2 Media-Research

2. Defining Audiences
• A Target Audience is the particular group at which a
product (e.g. film, music, television show) is aimed.
• Audiences can be specific in a number of ways, as
outlined by Graham Burton:
1. Defined by a particular product (e.g. a reader of The
Times, a watcher of thriller films)
2. When there are a particular audience for certain media
products (e.g. listeners of Jazz music, viewers of nature
documentaries)
3. When audiences belong to pre-existing groups (e.g. age,
gender, ethnicity)

3. The Need for Target
audiences
• Audience is becoming a huge part within the media
production industry.
• Media products need to have consumers; if there is no
one who will watch/consume the product, the it would be
pointless for a company to invest in its development.
• Target audiences also carry specific desires; when
producers are aware of there desires, it becomes easier
for them to satisfy the needs of the consumer.
• For example, if a documentary is being targeted at
people aged 15-28, it would be sensible to use modern,
current backing music which the audience can relate to.

4. CATEROGISING
AUDIENCES

5. Demographics
Media production companies will consider audience
demographics; this defines the wealth/social standing of an
audience to estimate their spending potential.
A-Top Management (lawyers, bankers, doctors, etc.)
B-Middle Management (teachers, designers, architects)
C1-Office Supervisors (young managers, nurses)
C2-Skilled Workers (trades people)
D-Semi Skilled/Manual Workers (plumbers, electricians)
E-Unemployed, Students, Pensioners
The demographic of an audience will effect the
chances/likelihood that they will consumer a certain products
(E.g. A doctor, demographic A, will be more likely to watch a
medical documentary rather than a tradesperson,
demographic D)

6. Defining Factors
There are other factors that can define a target audience:
• Age-Younger audiences differ greatly in their
consumption of media to older audiences. They are
interested in current, modern trends at arguably a more
superficial level than an older audience.
• Gender-Female audiences will be more likely to watch
documentaries of a different nature than male audiences.
• Ethnicity-Individuals from different countries or ethnic
groups are exposed to different types of media products
compared to others; this can be dictated by political or
financial motivation.

7. How do Audiences react?
Once the audience has been defined it is paramount for companies to predict the
way in which an audience will react to the products, through the incorporation of
different factors:
Engagement-How do audiences respond to/interact with a text? What is their
reading? (Stuart Hall)
Expectations-What will audiences expect from the product? Will the product
conform to or crush these expectations?
Foreknowledge-What does the audience already know about the content
definitively? How strong is their pre-existing knowledge?
Identification- How will the audience feel connected to the product? How does it
express their lifestyle/attitudes/beliefs?
Placement- How do you make the audience feel like the product is specifically for
them? (e.g. Direct mode of address, references, etc.)
Research- What does pre-existing/secondary research suggest about an audience?
(e.g. Viewing figures, Audience trends, Consumer polls/surveys, etc.)

8. Theory
Audience theory has been implemented within modern media companies
in order to maximize the potential for a product to succeed within the
market.

9. Audience Reading
• Stuart Hall- Media does not have the power to directly cause certain behaviors
in an individual; The text can be read in different ways and evoke different
responses (Polysemic).
• In the Encoding/Decoding Model, Hall examines the way in which different
readings are perceived by an audience, in regards to their social standing.
• Although the Preferred Reading of the text is typically inscribed as the Dominant
Ideology (a shared view of the majority), it is not automatically adopted that way by
the audience; Social situations lead them to adopt different stances.
• Dominant Reading= Social situation directly reflects the preferred reading.
• Negotiated Reading= Partially the adopt the preferred reading, but fit it to match their
situation/beliefs/experiences.
• Oppositional Reading= Social standing directly conflicts the preferred reading.
• Hall’s Theory addresses issues about Media Power, and how it can distort social
values to create dominant ideologies (Hegemony/Marxism) e.g. Framing the public
opinion

10. Uses and Gratifications
• Katz and Blummer (1960s)- Audiences are made up of
individuals who actively consume texts for different reasons
and in different ways; they make conscious decisions when
consuming media texts.
• Media texts have the following purposes/functions for
consumers in order to satisfy their needs:
• Diversion-Escape from everyday problems/routine.
• Personal Relationships- Using media for emotional interaction.
• Personal Identity- Audiences feel reflected within texts, learning
behavior and value
• Surveillance- Acquiring information for everyday living.
• Since the original theory was developed, new uses and
gratifications have been established, particularly with the
emergence of new media texts such as video games.

11. Two-Step Flow
• Two-Step flow suggests that most people form their
opinions under the influence of opinion leaders
(governments officials, major celebrities, authority
figures).
• These opinion leaders are influenced by the mass
media; they perceive media as an indication of
dominant ideologies.
• Thus, information flows through one medium to
another, before being transferred to the wider
population.

12. How does theory influence Target
Audience?
• AUDIENCE READING- Producers must consider the way
in which the target audience will read a text in relation to
their social standing/demographic (e.g. A sports
documentary would not be perceived well by those of a
working class, as their social situations conflicts with the
themes of the text.)
• USES AND GRATIFICATIONS- Producers will consider
why a target audience is deciding to consume a certain
text. Do they want a diversion, to identify personally, etc.
• TWO-STEP FLOW- Production companies need to
consider the opinion/ideology that the text is imposing on
the audience, and whether that is appropriate.