Aims

• To understand what is meant by the term

audience.
• To gain an understanding of why
audiences read the popular press.
• To learn and apply audience theories to
Popular Press.
 What is an audience?

A particular group of people who are

specifically targeted.

People who consume media texts

How can audiences be broken
down?
 Key Questions…
• Who reads Popular newspapers?

• Why do they need ( particular) audiences?

 Middle Market Newspapers

• The Daily Mail is read by over 5.5 million readers and

circulates just over 2.3 million newspapers per day.
• The readership profile is ideal for advertisers, as it has
over 3.7 million ABC1 readers which represent around
66% of the total readership.
• NRS stands for National Readership Survey
• The NRS social grade definitions is the standard
reference for classifying and describing social classes,
especially for consumer targeting and consumer market
research.
Socio- Economic Grading
 Using the website research the
readership for your newspaper

• http://www.nrs.co.uk/

• Look at the top line readership figures for

October 08 to September 09

• What did you find out? Was it as you

expected?
 Readership for ……………………………………..

Catergories Evidence

Age

Gender

Socio-Economic
Grading
Ethnicity

Interests

Political opinion
 Circulation

what is the circulation for your newspaper?

- Is it different to the readership?

- Why?

www.abc.org.uk
Taking a
Closer Look
at Audiences
 Two Questions About
Audiences:
• WHO would use this product?
– We have developed a framework to answer the first:
(Age, Gender, Location, Ethnicity, Class, Interests, Lifestyle,
Earning Power)

• WHY do they use it?

– The framework we can use for this is called the Uses
and Gratification Theory
 Why could you use?

A Lollipop A Pair of Trainers

• The reasons we use something can be simple “it tastes

good” or they can be complex “This reminds me of my best
friend at primary school who I used to share them with”

• What are some simple and complex reasons you could use
a pair of trainers?
Why do audiences read popular
newspapers?
Do we enjoy comparing our lives to others?

Do we read for entertainment value or to be

educated?

Do we read to find out what is happening in the

world?

Do we read because we like the content?

 Using Media Texts
• Is not for simple reasons
(keeping warm, feeding
yourself etc.)

• Media theorists Blumler and

Katz’s Uses and Gratifications
Theory describes four main
reasons people use media texts
– Entertainment/Diversion
– Information/Surveillance
– Social Relationships
– Personal Identity
 Uses and Gratifications Theory
- Four Reasons For Using
Media
1. Entertainment/Diversion
• The media text is enjoyable; an escape from routine and
problems; an emotional release
“I love coming home at the end of a hard day and forgetting about
everything by watching Heroes/shooting stuff on my XBox/reading
Heat magazine.”

2. Information/Surveillance
• The media text is a source of information; a form of education
“I watch Channel 4 news because it keeps me informed about what
is going on in the world.”
“I use Facebook to see what my friends and family have been up to.”
“I like www.rottentomatoes.com because it gives me good reviews
for the latest films.”
Uses and Gratifications Theory -
Four Reasons For Using Media
3. Personal Identity
• The media product reflects your own values, ideals and hopes or
“allows you to be yourself”
“I watch Skins because it is about people like me.”
“I like Kiss 100 because it plays my kind of music”
“I thought all those teenagers I see were carrying knives and now I know
because I read it in The Sun.”
“It doesn’t matter if I fail Media as long as I am the best at MW2.”

4. Social Relationships
• The media text is part of social life or is a replacement for a social life.
“I need to watch X-Factor so I can talk about it with my friends the next
day.”
“I can’t go out tonight so I will sit at home on Facebook”
“I don’t need real friends, I have plenty in The Sims.”
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs