Defining an audience

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Defining an Audience

Olivia Griffiths

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DEFINING AN AUDIENCE:QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

Quantitative Audience Research:

• Quantitative audience research is research that takes place to provide information that can be analysed statistically, rather than based on experience.

• Quantitative research is often criticised for not giving enough information as it only uses closed questions.

Quantitative research is normally carried out by two major companies within print media in the UK:

NRS (National readership survey) – provides a continuous survey completed by the audience which gives an estimated readership for the print media industry.

ABC (Audit bureau of circulations) – independently verifies and reports media performance.

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This is an example taken from the NRS. It shows the number of readers per copy of a particular magazine.

The company then takes the frequency and records them in a graph so that it is easy to understand and companies are able to evaluate which magazines are most popular, especially for their chosen audience.

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DEFINING AN AUDIENCE:QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Qualitative Audience Research

• Qualitative research takes a more personal approach to the audience. For example, what they like, what they dislike, where they live, how much they earn etc.

• This provides more in depth answers, giving the company the ability to make a product that is more suitable for the audience. This also means the company can broaden the amount of information they gain, through the use of open questions.

Methods of qualitative research include:• Focus groups• Questionnaires• Face to face interviews

These methods are useful as you get a direct, personal response of what would be suitable for the audience within the product.

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PROFILING AN AUDIENCE

Audience profiles are used within the print industry to help companies sell advertising space.Categories are used to break down an audience.• Age• Gender• Class• Psychographics• Geodemographics• Mainstream audiences • Niche audiences

It is important to profile an audience so that the company is getting the message across to the right people, so that the product is more likely to be successful.

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This is an example graph that shows the demographics of people in the US in comparison to the global status.

Shows average income and also shows most people earn over $100k and only 19% earn under $30k.

In comparison to income this shows that most people who earn over $100K went to college or grad school.

This shows that it is reaching an older audience ranging from 18-50.

Helps differentiate the people who have children compared with those who don’t.

This graph shows the comparison between global income and U.S income, this helps to show the company the direct measurements of income and how it is affected. So they can take this into consideration when targeting their audience.

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Socio-economic status (SES):

• Socio-economic status is the measure of individual’s or family’s economic status or social position in comparison to others.

• It is typically broken into 3 categories: IncomeGenderOccupation

PROFILING AN AUDIENCE:SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS

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PROFILING AN AUDIENCE:PSYCHOGRAPHICS

Psychographics:Psychographics is the study of a persons lifestyle and behaviour. There are seven main types of psychographics and each category describes a different type of person.

• Belonger • Achiever • Emulator• Socially conscious type A• Socially conscious type B• Balanced / totally integrated• Needs driven

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PROFILING AN AUDIENCE:GEODEMOGRAPHICS

Geodemographics:

Geodemographics is used to present the idea that people who live in the same neighbourhoods or areas tend to have the same lifestyles, interests and spending tendencies.

This means that companies, especially advertisers can target an audience within the same area so that they can ensure they are targeting the correct audience.

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PROFILING AN AUDIENCE:AGE

Age:

Age is used to classify an audience. This means how old the audience is and how they can be categorised into age groups so that companies can make a product to suit the age groups likes and dislikes.

This kind of research is carried out through questionnaires, by finding out a persons age they can then categorise it and piece together different interests.

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PROFILING AN AUDIENCE:GENDER

Gender:

There are two main categories when referring to an audiences gender.• Male• Female This means that it is a very simple way of targeting an audience.

Knowing an audiences gender can help the company make a product that is more appealing to a specific gender as men and women tend to have different interests.

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PROFILING AN AUDIENCE:MAINSTREAM

Mainstream:

A mainstream audience is a very large audience. It targets the most popular interests so that it gains a larger group of people.

It addresses topics or hobbies that the majority of people are aware of and are interested in.

This may include topics such as chart music or blockbuster films.

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PROFILING AN AUDIENCE:NICHE

Niche:

In comparison to a mainstream audience and niche audience is a much smaller group of people.

Targeting a niche audience means that the company would be targeting an audience with very specific interests and hobbies.