To research my primary audience I designed a survey on a website and posted the link to my Facebook page. The survey will allow me to collect the results and see what the primary target audience actually look for in the music magazine. I will be able to base my Cover on the results I gather.
The results from my first question show me that out of the 10 people that took my survey 60% are between the ages of 15-19, these results compliment my target audience as my target audience is 15-24 year olds. This means that the results I get from the survey will be relevant as the age of the people taking it were mostly the correct age for my primary target audience.
The results from my second question show that the genders of the people that took that survey are equal, this shows me that I will need to make the magazine appeal to both genders by using gender neutral colours and language.
My third question is about the household income. The results are very distributed but shows the majority of people that may read the magazine are of a average-high income background and so might be more inclined to actually purchase copies of the magazine.
The fourth question I asked is about the ethnicity of the 10 people that took my survey. The majority of the people were white/caucasian but there were two people that weren't. This shows me that the majority of people that will read my magazine will be White and British so I can put content that is mainly for white and British people, where as if I has a group of people with a with a wider group of ethnicities I would have to use content that is interracial.
The fifth question is asking what the people's sexuality is. The results show that 7 of them are Heterosexual and 2 of them were Homosexual and 1 was Bisexual. This means that my target audience will most likely be majorly Heterosexuals, but there will still be people with other sexualities.
My sixth question is asking what music genre they prefer, the results show that the audience enjoy a wide range of genres but the results that tied were Indie/Alternative, R&B and Folk. This means that I will probably have to chose one of those genres as they got a higher number of people.
The last question asks What is most important in the magazine and the most picked answer was the contents. This means that the contents of the magazine must be of a good standard and must be very high quality to allow the target audience to want to purchase the magazine.
Secondary Audience Research
Halls and Holmes said in 1998 that “Any media text is created for a particular audience and will usually appeal most to this particular target audience." This means that to sell a media product to an audience, you would need to know about who the audience is to allow you to target them appropriately.
During my research I found that it is important to profile audiences and to evaluate the audience demographics. To do this you need the following questions answered to find who you're targeting the product to:
1) What social class will the primary target audience fall under?
2) What gender is the primary target audience?
3) What age will the primary target audience be?
4) What nationality will the primary target audience be?
5) What values do the primary target audience have?
5) Audience appeal - what will the primary target audience be looking for in a film?
Uses and Gratifications Theory- understanding why people seek out specific media outlets and content for gratification purposes. The theory speaks about how users search for media that will not only meet a given need but enhance knowledge, social interactions and diversion.
It says that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting media into their own lives. The theory also says that audiences are in charge of choosing media to meet their personal needs.
Blumler and Katz’s uses and gratification theory suggests that media users play an active role in choosing and using the media. Users take an active part in the communication process and are goal oriented in their media use. The theorist say that a media user seeks out a media source that best fulfils the needs of the user. Uses and gratifications assume that the user has alternate choices to satisfy their need.
Audiences- There are two main types of audiences that are found. The first is called a Mass Audience and is a large mainstream audience who consume mainstream and pop culture. The second is a Niche Audience which is smaller than a mass audience but influential to the mainstream culture. The Marxist theory would claim that the Mass Audience is made up of the 'working class' who have less power than the upper classes so tend to just follow mainstream and pop culture, where as the Niche Audience is made from upper classes because they have more control and power over the media. I think my audience would be partly Niche and party Mass because it is not completely aimed at the pop culture, however the mainstream popular thing recently seems to be quite indie and alternative.
The key representation theories I found also helped me to figure out how to represent the target audience.
Class :
1. (Marx) -"The class which has the means of material production
at its disposal has control at the same time over the means of mental
production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack
the means of mental production are subject to it."
2. (Medhurst, 1998) “Stereotyping becomes ideological the moment it stops being simply a method of description and becomes a vehicle for values."
3. (Medhurst, 1998) “They are awful because the are not like us.”
Youth :
1. (Stanley Hall, 1904), “Youth must have excitement and if this is not at hand in the form of moral intellectual enthusiasms it is more prone to be sought in sex or drink”
2. (Osgerby, 1998), “Crime, violence and sexual licence have been recurring themes in the media’s treatment of youth culture, the degeneracy of the youth depiction as indicative of a steady disintegration of the UK’s social fabric”
3. (Medhurst, 1998), “They’re awful because they’re not like us”
I have used quite a rebellious styling on some of the pages and had a unique look which supported these theories.
Disability :
1. (Jordanova, 1989), “The idea of otherness is complicated, but certain themes are common: the treatment of others as more like an object, something to be managed and possessed, and as dangerous, wild, threatening. At the same time, the other becomes an entity whose very separateness inspires curiosity, invites inquiring knowledge.”
2. (Jessica Evans, 1998) “Whites are not called to think about themselves as Whites but only other people as non-White…the power of non-disabled people lies hidden while the representation spotlight i.e. what is made visible to the viewing audience is focus on the impaired body.”
3. (Evans, 1998),“Disabled people are seen as childish, dependant and underdeveloped and are regarding as ‘other’ and are punished by being excluded from ordinary life. Thus popular images and rhetoric of disabled people abound which comfort us with people who are imperfect, helpless, disgusting, shitty, dribbling – a threat to rigid ego boundaries. During the socio-developmental process of infancy, a range of strict rules of decorum involving standards of privacy, decency and dignity effect a representation of these activities as taboo…therefore images of disability which cause unpleasure to the self simply be representing that expelling as already complete. We become literally alienated from (and cannot identify with) the object/person we observe.”
I am not aiming at a disabled audience so am not using any disabled models that represent the audience.
Race :
1. (Sarita Malik, 1998), “The word ‘race’ in the cultural and political terrain has almost universally been aligned with Black and Asian people, as though they are the only racial groups that ‘own’ an ethnicity… Whiteness has been naturalized, as though it is an invisible ‘norm.’"
2. (Staurt Hall, 1981) “You simply have to look at the programme with the set question in your mind: Here is a problem, defined as ‘the problem of immigration.’ What is it? How is it defined and constructed through through the programme? What logic governs its definition? And where does the logic derive from?...The logic of the argument is immigrants=blacks=too many of them=send them home. This is racist logic.”
3. (Alvarado, 1987) "The minorities can be portrayed in four ways: Exotic, Dangerous, Humorous and Pitied."
I am using white models because this theory states that whiteness in the media has been naturalised.
The key representation theories I found also helped me to figure out how to represent the target audience.
Class :
1. (Marx) -"The class which has the means of material production
at its disposal has control at the same time over the means of mental
production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack
the means of mental production are subject to it."2. (Medhurst, 1998) “Stereotyping becomes ideological the moment it stops being simply a method of description and becomes a vehicle for values."
3. (Medhurst, 1998) “They are awful because the are not like us.”
Youth :
1. (Stanley Hall, 1904), “Youth must have excitement and if this is not at hand in the form of moral intellectual enthusiasms it is more prone to be sought in sex or drink”
2. (Osgerby, 1998), “Crime, violence and sexual licence have been recurring themes in the media’s treatment of youth culture, the degeneracy of the youth depiction as indicative of a steady disintegration of the UK’s social fabric”
3. (Medhurst, 1998), “They’re awful because they’re not like us”
I have used quite a rebellious styling on some of the pages and had a unique look which supported these theories.
Disability :
1. (Jordanova, 1989), “The idea of otherness is complicated, but certain themes are common: the treatment of others as more like an object, something to be managed and possessed, and as dangerous, wild, threatening. At the same time, the other becomes an entity whose very separateness inspires curiosity, invites inquiring knowledge.”
2. (Jessica Evans, 1998) “Whites are not called to think about themselves as Whites but only other people as non-White…the power of non-disabled people lies hidden while the representation spotlight i.e. what is made visible to the viewing audience is focus on the impaired body.”
3. (Evans, 1998),“Disabled people are seen as childish, dependant and underdeveloped and are regarding as ‘other’ and are punished by being excluded from ordinary life. Thus popular images and rhetoric of disabled people abound which comfort us with people who are imperfect, helpless, disgusting, shitty, dribbling – a threat to rigid ego boundaries. During the socio-developmental process of infancy, a range of strict rules of decorum involving standards of privacy, decency and dignity effect a representation of these activities as taboo…therefore images of disability which cause unpleasure to the self simply be representing that expelling as already complete. We become literally alienated from (and cannot identify with) the object/person we observe.”
I am not aiming at a disabled audience so am not using any disabled models that represent the audience.
Race :
1. (Sarita Malik, 1998), “The word ‘race’ in the cultural and political terrain has almost universally been aligned with Black and Asian people, as though they are the only racial groups that ‘own’ an ethnicity… Whiteness has been naturalized, as though it is an invisible ‘norm.’"
2. (Staurt Hall, 1981) “You simply have to look at the programme with the set question in your mind: Here is a problem, defined as ‘the problem of immigration.’ What is it? How is it defined and constructed through through the programme? What logic governs its definition? And where does the logic derive from?...The logic of the argument is immigrants=blacks=too many of them=send them home. This is racist logic.”
3. (Alvarado, 1987) "The minorities can be portrayed in four ways: Exotic, Dangerous, Humorous and Pitied."
I am using white models because this theory states that whiteness in the media has been naturalised.
Regional Identity
1. (Andrew Higson, 1998) “Identity is generally understood to be the shared
identity of naturalized inhabitants of a particular political-geographic space
– this can be a particular nation or region.”
2. (Higson 1998): “Film like Trainspotting
(1995) deal with quite specific cultural traditions, including working class
traditions, youth traditions, all of which can be subsumed under the umbrella
term Britishness.”
3. (Benedict
Anderson, 1983) “The unification of
people in the modern world is achieved not by military but by cultural means,
in particular the media system enables people (of a nation or region) to feel
part of a coherent, meaningful and homogenous community.”
Sexuality
1. (Medhurst, 1998) "Men as screaming queers and their female counterparts butch dykes."
2. (Medhurst, 1998) "They are awful because they are not like us"
I am aiming the magazine at a majority of heterosexuals so am using heterosexual models that don't fit in with the theorised stereotype.
Gender
1. (MacKinnon, 2003) “Men are
increasingly and unapologetically objectified, both in terms of erotic
spectacle and as targets of advertising for product beyond cars and beers,
including many items once thought to be market for women alone”
2.(Mulvey, 1975) women are used
as “erotic objects of
desire for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic objects of
desire for the spectator within the auditorium.”
3. (Osgerby, 2003) “Consumer practice
developed as a pre-eminently feminine province”\
I've used attractive models to appeal to the audiences.
I've used attractive models to appeal to the audiences.
Proficient research into audience.
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