Audience research: introduction to target audiences

The term 'audience' has several meanings, best described in a media studies approach as 'the collective groups and individuals addressed, and partly constructed by media industries'.

Kitzinger (2004) groups audience research into four main areas:

Market driven research: this seeks to brand audiences as consumers, monitoring their 'attention flow' or the number of 'eyeballs' a product is attracting. Modern day corporations are highly proactive in researching what they perceive might be a useful audience response.

Concerns about morality and sex n violence: this focuses on the corrupting power of the media 'all on their own', isolated from social shaping and broader influences. For instance, social media and its often-malign influence on young users, in isolation, is now subject to this approach.

 

Responses to technological developments: this refers to cinema in the 20's, TV in the 50's (when it was a new medium) right through to children and others groups' use of interactive media today.

Questions about culture, politics and identity: this is concerned with the media's role in framing public understanding and also the ways that we use media texts and objects in relation to identities, pleasures and fantasies.

Audience is a key concept in media studies; all media is produced with an audience in mind. Media institutions only finance products to make profits, with the audience being the source of money. An understanding of the potential audience is key as it helps producers shape an advertise their text or product, in a way that will appeal to a market with known viewing habits most effectively. If this is done well, it is likely that the product will rake in a greater amount of profit.

Audiences themselves also share their experience with a product or text by word of mouth, which somewhat sees the audience as advertisers themselves. More recently, the interactive role of audiences, where they are asked to vote, produce, document and engage with different media texts has increased the value and power of such texts.

Audience research can be done by various means, including the study of social demographic variables or the personal statistics of a particular group in society. A common and traditional method called 'demographic segmentation' can be applied here. The breaks down a 'mass audience' into different categories, which a media organization will then narrow down and choose from. The refined and chosen group become a 'target audience'. The producers then decide which way to conduct their research...

Primary audience research: direct investigation of the needs, desires and media habits of an audience. This involves contacting and directly approaching members of the target audience individually, as we have done in our audience research questionnaire.

Secondary audience research: this analyzes the data collected from other research that was previously conducted. Modern day technology means that sources like the internet along with consulting books, magazines and journals are easily accessible. The wide range of quantitative (statistical/ numerical facts and figures) and qualitative (written opinions, thoughts, beliefs) research can be used to construct an unbiased critical analysis of the target audience.