AUDIENCE

Audience VERY important concept

All texts are made with an audience in mind
Producers make money out of that audience (not always)

IMPORTANT to understand what

happens when an audience meets a

media text

Audience

Texts are constructed to appeal to

certain audiences through:
Codes and conventions
Genre
Narrative
Representation

Texts try to position the audience to

make them respond in a particular
way.

Audience research
Does it have an audience?
If the answer is NO there is no point going any further.
Serious business (time and money)ascertaining if there is

anyone out there whod be interested in their idea

So what things might be producers be interested in

knowing about an audience?

Are YOU an audience member?

In groups.
List the different audiences you are part of on a regular

basis? TV programme, radio, websites, video games

Pick one
How much do you know about the audience for theses

texts? (size, age, gender, etc.)

USE IDENTIFYING TARGET AUDIENCE IN YOUR
HANDBOOKS AND SPECIFY!

You need to ensure that you understand and can use the
following terms and ideas, including the authors of theories:
TARGET AUDIENCE/ SECONDARY AUDIENCES
DEMOGRAPHICS (use of CAGER categories); PSYCHOGRAPHICS (Young and Rubicam

categories (5); some advertising lifestyle categories e.g. NINJAS)

SITUATED CULTURE
ACTIVE AUDIENCE & PASSIVE AUDIENCE
ACTIVE AUDIENCE IDEAS: Uses & Gratifications theory (incl. the four types of gratification);
Pick n Mix theory; Encoding-Decoding Model; Reception Theory (incl. the three different
response positions); Interactive Audiences
PASSIVE AUDIENCE IDEAS: Hypodermic Needle Effect; Copycat Theory; Cultivation Theory
As well as this, you need to understand what each of the following means:
How texts define their target audience
How texts construct their audiences
How texts target and appeal to their target audiences
How texts position their target audiences
How different audiences can respond to the same text differently

You should have THREE case study texts that you have explored all FIVE of the above for and

should be able to use them as your examples in essays. SEE NEXT SIDE
TEXT 1: .
TEXT 2:
TEXT 3: ..

Our Audience Case Studies

TEXT 1: Beyonce - Run the

World (Girls)
TEXT 2: Dior - Addict advert
TEXT 3: Trailer for Topboy
(Channel 4)

Q2. OF THE EXAM PAPER LOOKS LIKE THIS

Choose one of the magazine covers. Suggest two

different audiences for these covers. Give brief reasons

for your choice. (6)
(b) Using the same magazine cover chosen for 2 (a),

explain how the main audience has been targeted. (9)

(c) In what ways do different audiences respond

differently to the same media text? Refer to your own

detailed examples. THIS WILL BE YOU CASE
STUDIES(15)

SO. we need to know about.

Categorising Audiences
Demographic data (objective):
Age
Gender
Income
Education
Family
Geography
Demographic data is used to sell advertising space.
Social Grade classification...

One common way of describing audiences is to use a letter code to show their income
bracket:

Top management, bankers, lawyers, doctors and

other highly salaried professionals
B
Middle management, teachers, many 'creatives' eg
graphic designers etc
C1 Office supervisors, junior managers, nurses,
specialist clerical staff etc
C2 Skilled workers, tradespersons (white collar)
D
Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers (blue
collar)
E
Unemployed, students, pensioners, casual workers

Social Grade
A
B
C1

C2
D
E

How useful is this type of

information?

Higher managerial, administrative and

professional
Intermediate managerial, administrative
and professional
Supervisory, clerical and junior
managerial, administrative and
professional
Skilled manual worker
Semi-skilled and unskilled manual worker
State pensioners, casual and lowest
grade workers, unemployed with state

Task - What social grade am I?

Doctor
Nurse
Teacher
Graphic designer
Telesales/ market researcher
Plumber
Student

Other Classifications
Young and Rubicams - Consumers
As the concept of class became less fashionable, advertisers started
thinking about audiences in different ways. One of the best-known
was devised by the advertising agency Young and Rubicam.
Mainstreamers
Make up 40% of the population. They like security, and belonging to
a group.
Aspirers
Want status and the esteem of others. Like status symbols, designer
labels etc. Live off credit and cash.
Succeeders
People who have already got status and control.
Reformers
Define themselves by their self-esteem and self-fulfilment.

Values Attitudes and Lifestyles this approach is similar to Young and

Rubicam's but offers a more sophisticated range of descriptors for audiences.

Actualisers: successful, sophisticated, take charge people with

high self-esteem
Fulfilleds: Thinkers are motivated by ideals. mature, satisfied,
comfortable, and reflective people who value order, knowledge
and responsibility
Achievers: Motivated by the desire for achievement. achievers
have goal-oriented lifestyles and a deep commitment to career and
family.
Experiencers: motivated by self-expression.
Believers: Like thinkers motivated by ideals.
Strivers: trendy and fun loving. motivated by achievement and
are concerned about the opinions and approval of others.
Makers: motivated by self-expression.
Survivors: Live narrowly focused lives.

The Lifestyle Categories

This classifies audiences according to a their beliefs and attitudes towards life.

Many media texts will be consumed multiple lifestyle categories.

Cowboys People who want to make money quickly and easily.
Cynics People who always have something to complain about.
Drifters People who arent at all sure what they want.
Drop-outs People who do not want to get committed in any way.
Egoists People who are mainly concerned to get the most for themselves out
of life.
Groupies People who want to be accepted by those around them.
Innovators People who want to make their mark on the world.
Puritans People who want to feel they have done their duty.
Rebels People who want the world to fit in with their idea of how it should be
Traditionalists People who want everything to remain the same.
Trendies People who are desperate to have the admiration of their peer
group.
Utopians People who want to make the world a better place.

 Using the

information you
have learnt
Task
Suggest two

audiences for
this text. Give
brief reasons

Question 2 The majority of candidates were awarded 3 or 4 marks for this question
2a)

Relevant suggestions of audiences included

young black audience
young male audience
younger female audience
general music fans
fans of Hip Hop
fans of Rap
To access the 4 marks available, there needed to be some additional information
beyond 'fans' and 'young men'. What could you add?
Main observations from candidates' responses
Weaker candidates could not develop their examples fully enough for the
4marks awarded and just named two basic examples.
The best responses were closely linked to evidence from the text.
It was of some concern that some candidates wrote far too much for this section
and had not taken note of the mark allocation. In some cases more was written
here than for 2 b). This would have an obvious impact on timing

Good answer
NME magazine has a primary and a secondary target audience.

The primary target audience would be younger fans of indie music,

16-25, B, C1, predominantly white, male skew, urban/city living
individualists.
The reasons for this relates to the fact that traditionally independent
music (specifically guitar based indie music that NME specialises
in) is consumed by younger audiences who see themselves as
standing out from the crowd the anti establishment tone of the
front cover confirms this and references to bands who have pushed
boundaries over years, including the intelligent bad boy reputation
of Tyler the Creator. The desire for more individuality suggests a
more educated, stereotypically middle class background.
REMEMBER TO GIVE a secondary audience if it asks for 2.