Audiences

Definition: An individual or group of people who read or consume any media text.

Why are audiences important?

Without audiences there would be no media.

Media organizations produce media texts to make profit – no audience = no profit.

The mass media is becoming more competitive than ever to attract more and more audiences in different ways and stay profitable.

Impact of new technology on audiences

Old media (TV, print, radio) which used to have high audience numbers must now work harder to maintain audience numbers.

Digital technology has also led to an increasing uncertainty over how we define an audience, with the general agreement that a large group of people reading the same thing at the same time is outdated and that audiences are now “fragmented”.

Fragmented Audience

The division of audiences into smaller groups due to the variety of media outlets.

The aim is to hit as many people as possible/sell more copies/generate a larger audience. But measuring that audience becomes difficult. You may have some people that only look online, some that only read the hard copy, or some that do both.

Types of audience

Mass audience – Media and communication that targets a very large group of people.

Niche audience – A small, select group of people with a very unique interest.

Psychographics

Every advertiser wants to target a particular type of audience. Therefore, media companies produce texts that target a particular “type” of audience.

In terms of commercial media, much of their funding is generated by advertising revenue. Their product needs to appeal to a specific type of audience so that advertisers will pay.

Group A – Doctors, Lawyer, Scientists, well paid professionals

Group B – Teachers, Middle management, fairly well paid professionals

Group C1 – Jr management, bank clerks, nurses, “white collar” professionals

Group C2 – Electricians, Plumbers, Carpenters, “Blue Collar” professionals

Group D – Manual workers, Drivers, Post sorters

Group E – Students, Unemployed, Pensioners

How do we measure audience sizes?

Sales, subscriptions, ratings, figures

Research a similar magazine and found out it’s audience size, subscription too, etc.

Age, Gender, Education, Profession, Interests and Hobbies, Fashion, Music Taste, Style, Social Media – Create a mood board of target audience.