Audiences

Audiences

An audience is an individual or group of people who read or consume any media text. Without an audience there would be no profit. In order to ensure a stable profit there should be research in to the audience and what type the film is aimed at to help them attract an audience As audiences are important for profit, organizations are having to compete with each other these results in new ideas having to be created to intrigue people.

To research audiences media companies spend a great deal of time and money to find out who would be interested in their product. They do this by completing:

• Questionnaires
• Focus groups
• Pre-film screenings

Who measures audiences?
Organisations that measure audiences:
NRS  http://www.nrs.co.uk/
BARB http://www.barb.co.uk/

New Media
New ways in which we can measure audience include:

• Facebook likes
• Views on YouTube
• Twitter trends

Types of Research

Quantitative
Quantitative research is more number based these tend to be more factual and use closed questions, an example of a quantitative data is a questionnaire.

Qualitative
Qualitative research analyses existing products in contrast to quantitative the questions are more open these help generate an interpretation, an example of this type of research is interviews.

• Mass audience which can be also described as the broadcast audience is basically a large audience in contrast to a niche audience which is smaller but influential.

Demographic- Audience's age, race, gender, nationality and class.
Psychographic- Audience's interests, beliefs and hobbies.

What types of media texts would they consume
http://www.thinkbox.tv/server/show/nav.914

Group A

Lawyers

Doctors

Scientists

Well paid professionals

Group B
Teachers

Middle management

Fairly well paid professional

Group C1

Junior management

Bank clerks

Nurses

'White collar' professions

Group C2
Electricians
Plumber
Carpenters
'Blue Collar' professions

Group D

Manual workers such as:

Drivers

Post sorters

Group E
Students
Unemployed
Pensioners



Katz and Blumler

Katz and Blumler did research in to audience behaviour and  proposed that audiences use media for a variety of reasons, such as: 

1. Information Audiences use medias such as newspapers to learn about current events, educating themselves on what is occurring throughout the world or in their community.
2. Personal Identity They also proposed audiences use media to find models of behaviour and reinforce personal values. Examples include Twitter and Facebook.
3. Integration and Social Interaction Insight into circumstances of others such as social empathy and being able to relate and identify with others. Audiences often find these connections in common TV dramas.

The Impact Of New Technology 
Old media such as TV, print and radio have to work harder to maintain an audience due to the new digital technology which is becoming more popular with audiences. This is resulting in audiences becoming fragmented.

Considering Audience

Audience Engagement-
this involves how an audience interacts with a media text from this we see how different people react in varied ways.
Audience Expectations-
Ideas the audience have in advance of seeing a media text.This usually applies to genre pieces.