Audiences

Audiences

What is an audience?

An audience is an individual or a group of people who read or observe a media text.

All texts are made with an audience in mind. When a media text is being planned, one of the most important questions the producers consider is 'Does it have an audience?'

Why are audiences important?

Without audiences there would be no media. Media organisations produce median texts to make profit- no audience = no profit. The mass media is becoming more competitive than ever to attract more audiences in different ways and stay profitable.


The belief that audiences passively receive messages is long gone.

Katz & Blumler proposed from their research into audience behaviour that audiences use media texts for a variety or reasons.

1) Information - Finding out about events, satisfying curiously gaining a sense of security through knowledge.

2) Personal Identity - Reinforcement for personal values, finding out models of behaviour, insight into one's self.

3) Integration and Social Interaction - Insight into circumstances of others; social empathy, identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging, interaction, enabling one to connect with family, friends and society.


Impact of new technology

Old media (TV, Print, Radio) which used to have high audience numbers must now work harder to maintain audience numbers.


Digital technology has also led to an increasing uncertainty over how we define an audience, with the general agreement that a large group of people reading the same thing at the same time is outdated and that audiences are now 'fragmented'.












Demographic - The Audience's;

- age
- race
- gender
- class/status
- nationality



Psychographic - The Audience's;

- interests
- beliefs
- hobbies

Types of Audience

 

Mass audience - often termed 'broadcast audience. Those who consume mainstream or popular texts such as soaps or sitcoms. Media and communication that targets a very large group of people (women, men, children, adults etc)

Niche Audience - A much smaller but very influential audience. It is a small, select group of people with a very unique interest.

Audience Research

Audience research is a major part of any media company's work. They use questionnaires, focus groups, pre-film screenings and spend a great deal of time and money finding out who would be interested in their product.

Audience profiles - this link has helped me understand how audience are categorised; http://www.thinkbox.tv/

 

What times of media texts would they consume?

 

Group A

 

- Lawyers

- Doctors

- Scientists

- Well paid professionals

 

Group B

 

- Teachers

- Middle management

- Fairly well paid professionals

 

Group C1

 

Junior management

Bank clerks

Nurses

'White Collar' professions 

 

Group C2

 

Electricians

Plumbers

Carpenters

'Blue Collar' professions (people who get their 'hands dirty' e.g. builders)

 

Group D

 

Manual workers

Plumbers

Post sorters

 

Group E

 

Students

Unemployed

Pensioners

How do we measure audiences?

-Sales, subscriptions, ratings, figures

Who measures audiences?

- NRS
- ABC
- BARB`http://www.thinkbox.tv/server/show/nav.836
- Bookseller
- (These are just some of the organisations who monitor audience sizes)


Research

When looking at audiences, there are two main types of research:
Quantitative research - e.g. questionnaires
- number based
- closed questions to generate exact answers
- very factual

Qualitative research - e.g. interview, focus groups
- Analysis of existing products
- open questions to generate answers open to interpretation
- individual preferences

Considering audience

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 ideas the audience have in advance of seeing a media text. This particularly applies to genre pieces. Don't forget producers continually play with or shatter audience expectations.