Imran Qureshi

Defining Audiences (Formative task sheet, Unit 6)

Within the media industry there are specific target audiences that professional
marketers are all aware of. They create certain media products (such as magazines
etc.), with these target audiences in mind. They do this in order to generate the most
appeal for their product and make the most profit possible. Throughout this essay I
will be explaining and defining the different types of target audiences and highlighting
the importance of researching.
When defining different target audiences, psychographics plays a huge role. These
psychographics consist of different groups of people that have a variety of lifestyle
choices. Generally speaking, there are seven different groups of people. These are
there are seven social value groups that give general descriptions and characterises
of each type of person, these 7 groups are commonly taken into consideration when
marketing any media product. These 7 groups are; self actualisers, innovators,
esteem seekers, strives, contented conformer, traditionalists and disconnected.
Generally, everyone fits into one of these groups and marketers look closely at these
groups when creating any form of media product. In my specific case, I am creating
a magazine for young, local people, due to the fact that this is a broad group of
people to market towards, our magazine appeals to all 7 of the generic social
groups, this was an intentional decision in order to make our magazine appeal to as
much people as possible.
A more detailed explanation of the seven different social groups can be found below
social value
group

characteristics

self actualizers

focused on people and relationships, individualistic and creative,

enthusiastically exploring change, 'in a framework of nonprescriptive consideration for others'

innovators

self-confident risk-takers, seeking new and different things,

setting their own targets to achieve

esteem seekers

acquisitive and materialistic, aspiring to what they see are

symbols of success, including things and experiences

strivers

attaching importance to image and status, as a means of

enabling acceptance by their peer group, at the same time
holding onto traditional values

contented
conformers

wanting to be 'normal', so follow the herd, accepting of their

circumstances, they are contented and comfortable in the
security of their own making

traditionalists

averse to risk, guided by traditional behaviours and values, quiet

and reserved, hanging back and blending in with the crowd

disconnected

detached and resentful, embittered and apathetic, tending to live

in the 'ever-present now'

(from the notes provided on moodle).

Imran Qureshi

Geodemographics and socio- economic status also plays a role within

pschographics, this means defining groups of people based on where they live. By
using websites such as acorn and other specific websites, it is possible to see what
kind of social class or group lives in speficic areas. This is researched because, for
example if you were to market a magazine to a low social class of people, you may
want to style it, word it differently than if you were to market it towards upper class
people, markers to this to appeal to certain audiences more.

Issues such as price, style, grammar and context, usually are all changed when It is
marketed towards a certain social class of people. For example, the metro is a
magazine that is targeted towards a lower social class than the guardian which is
marketed towards a certain upper class of people. When comparing both magazines
side by side, it makes it obvious that social grade plays a huge part in psychograhics
and target audiences.
social
grade

social status

occupation

upper middle class

higher managerial, administrative or

professional

middle class

intermediate managerial, administrative or

professional

C1

lower middle class

supervisory or clerical, junior managerial,

administrative or professional

C2

skilled working class

skilled manual workers

working class

semi and unskilled manual workers

those at lowest level of

subsistence

state pensioners or widows (no other

earner), casual or lowest grade workers

Audience feedback is very important, mostly, we try and define our aduiences by
collecting two types of information. When defining audiences there are two different
subsectors that each audience can be defined in, these two subsectors are referred
to as quantitative research and qualitative research. As the name suggests,
quantitive research is research involving a specific quantity or research, in other
words it is research that includes numbers such as statistics, sales figures or ratings
of any kind etc. Qualitative research is a lot more word and language orientated. This
could be either quotes or opinions on a matter. In terms of defining audiences, there
are various industries that measure audiences of television shows etc. In order to
give out relevant statistics and facts, these companies are known as RAJAR and
BARB. They usually do this by measuring viewership audiences and comparing
them with competition. As they measure there audiences with numbers, this is known
as quantitive data.

Imran Qureshi

As I am producing a magazine intended for young people, I have produced a survey

online in order to further define my audience. The questions that I have asked are
mostly descriptions rather than statistics involving numbers, this is known as
qualitive data. When defining audiences, collecting information can be done in many
different ways, some can be done by carrying out vox pop, face to face interviews, or
surveys etc. It is also important to collect information from a wide variety of ages,
sexual orientation and gender.
There are usually three types of main markets that are targeted towards each seven
different social value groups (as explained above), these three main markets are
mainstream products, alternative products and niche products. In the magazine
market, mainstream magazines are the most popular.
This is because it is meant for common indifferent
people. Usually these magazines talk about current
celebrity pop culture as well as highlighting the most
popular contemporary pop songs of the time. An example
of a magazine like this is Vouge, this is a magazine that
usually covers a lot of new and popular celebrity news
and music, meant for mainstream fans. This magazine is
marketed towards traditionalists and contented
conformers and possibly strivers.
Alternative magazines, are in between mainstream and
completely niche. They usuall highlight popular music
from a different age or big bands/music from either the 90s
or earl 2000s. Some of It also covers new indie rock but
most of it does have a small bit of mainstream mixed with it.
A magazine such as this would be NME
magazine. It is marketed towards innovators, strivers and
esteem seekers.

Lastly, niche magazines are intended for indie, different people

with interests that are outside the popular. These magazines
contain unknown music and news about underground artsists.
They may also give a different perspective on some news. A
magazine such as this would be VICE magazine. This is
intended towards disconnected, self actualisers and self
innovators.