Audience theories

It is necessary in media studies to ensure you are aiming at the correct audience thus I have decided to use thorough research to reach the most accurate target audience I can. Each and every media product distributed has a target audience in mind which is significant; it makes it easier to promote and advertise the product and generally achieves higher profits. I am going to carry out questionnaires, research audience theories, implement secondary research and look at existing media products in order to gather the right information for the target audience of my short film.

Theories I found:

Psychographics
Psychographic information is your buyer's habits, hobbies, spending habits and values. Demographics explain “who” your buyer is, whilst psychographics explain “why” they buy products. Demographic information includes gender, age, income, marital status, etc. You can only effectively reach your target audience when you understand both their demographics and psychographics. The combination of both sets of data starts to form your consumer persona. Below is a psychographic table and this is a table that divides people into groups depending on their social class, lifestyle and personality characteristics. This table reflects the belief that consumers are influenced to purchase particular products because of their own personal characteristics.

Psychographic Table

I will be analysing the psychographics of those completing my primary research questionnaires to see if this data has any impact whatsoever on the sort of short film they choose to engage in. If there is any correlation, I will be sure to look carefully at the pyschographics of those featuring in my short film and how they will appeal to the specific target audience.

Demographics

Simply put, demographic data information is used in media marketing to classify an audience into age, gender, race and other categories. In media, demographics are used to pinpoint potential audience growth and to spot under-performance. Using the demographic table, the population is split into 6 groups which are labelled A, B, C1, C2, D and E. This is what describes each member's status in society. The working class are those people in the agriculture, farming or mining industry. The middle class covers the majority of the population in the UK currently, and the upper class are those who inherited wealth and power.

Demographic Table

Abraham Maslow

Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" is a motivational theory in psychology consisting of a five tier model of human needs. This is often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid. He stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and that some needs take precedence over others. Our most basic need is for physical survival which is the first thing that motivates our behavior. Once that level is fulfilled the next level up is what motivates us. This can be considered a useful method of research, however, after careful analysis of this theory I have decided that it is outdated and will not be useful in the search for my target audience.

Abraham Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" Pyramid

Through researching these theories I have learnt a lot and found it interesting analysing the breakdown of society and why the media promote to their target audience in the way they do. By doing so I have realised how dissecting the audience into categories can make the research process much simpler.