Michael Reeder

Unit 6

Critical Approaches

Defining Audiences
In this essay I will outline the main ways to define an audience and what is
the different types of research that can be linked to this topic. I will talk
about what builds up to make an audience profile such as psychographics,
geodemographics, age, gender and sexual orientation. Also when looking
at these topics I will identify what it means to be mainstream or to be
alternative or niche. To get the information for these topics I will look into
qualitative and quantitative data and how these are used to create an
audience profile.
The first main topic involved in defining audiences is psychographics, the
term is based upon social values and characteristics, and this can be also
based upon class and status but overall takes into account lifestyle
choices. Social values are assigned to a person and are grouped by the
different characteristics they entail. When defining an audience for a
specific media product, say a magazine, you set to create your magazine
for a specific social value group or a couple of groups. These groups are
outlined in the table below and describe each individual group. Individual
people may allocate themselves more than one group and have elements
of there personalitys that may fit into all groups, this however doesnt
matter when defining audiences as you will aim a magazine towards one
group and whoever allocates themselves to that group should be
interested in the magazine.
social value
group

characteristics

self actualizers

focused on people and relationships, individualistic and

creative, enthusiastically exploring change, 'in a framework
of non-prescriptive consideration for others'

innovators

self-confident risk-takers, seeking new and different things,

setting their own targets to achieve

esteem seekers

acquisitive and materialistic, aspiring to what they see are

symbols of success, including things and experiences

strivers

attaching importance to image and status, as a means of

enabling acceptance by their peer group, at the same time
holding onto traditional values

contented
conformers

wanting to be 'normal', so follow the herd, accepting of

their circumstances, they are contented and comfortable in
the security of their own making

traditionalists

averse to risk, guided by traditional behaviours and values,

quiet and reserved, hanging back and blending in with the
crowd

disconnected

detached and resentful, embittered and apathetic, tending

to live in the 'ever-present now'

This table has been extracted from The Insight Value Group Ltd and it has
been put together from a vast study into the UK social groups and it claims

Michael Reeder

Unit 6

Critical Approaches

to be an accurate representation of the current social groups in the UK. It

is very important to take into account these different groups and for
example if you were to advertise your magazine towards the group
classed as innovators you would have a very niche marketed magazine
which includes a lot of up and coming things to allow for their need to
seek new things and become different.
Another main topic when looking into defining audiences is when you look
at social status, this is psychographic audience profiling and it looks into
what social class you are. This is defined by what job you have and your
income. The graph bellow shows all the categories of social status and
explains the general job you would have to be in that status.
social
grade

social status

occupation

upper middle class

higher managerial, administrative or

professional

middle class

intermediate managerial,
administrative or professional

C1

lower middle class

supervisory or clerical, junior

managerial, administrative or
professional

C2

skilled working class

skilled manual workers

working class

semi and unskilled manual workers

those at lowest level of

subsistence

state pensioners or widows (no other

earner), casual or lowest grade
workers

When looking at targeting your magazine for a specific social status you
have to consider what statuss will actually buy your magazine or be
interested in reading your magazine, Because of this most generic
magazines are aimed at A, B and C1 status as these people are more often
to buy and read magazines. Due to our magazine being targeted at
students it will therefore be targeted at mainly E status as students either
have part time unskilled jobs or have no job.
The next main topic when defining an audience is looking into
geodemographics, classifying audiences into different categories
depending on where you live and what sort of house you live in. There are
many data gathering agencies that help with putting research together for
this such topic, one such agency is Acorn. Acorn is an online website that
gathers information on geodemographics. This surveys the whole country
and by post code it assigns different class statuses according to where you
live. The variables are what sort of housing you live in and what sort of
area it is, wither it is in a city centre or a quite village for example. Your
rating according to geodemgraphic profiling is then based upon 5
categories, 17 groups and finally 59 types of housing communities and
places to live. This gives you a number rating from 1 to 59, 1 is the best

Michael Reeder

Unit 6

Critical Approaches

place to live in and 59 is the worst. There are places which score less than
a 59 but is not included in the ratings.
Another key topic which has to be considered when putting together an
audience profile is what sort of audience is it, is it an mainstream,
alternative or a niche audience. Whether or not someone would be
interested in these different types of magazines will rely on all the
previous topics in this essay. Mainstream audience listen to chart music
and wear whats in the main high street brands like River Island. This
audience is more likely to read magazines like Rolling Stones and other
such magazines as these cover many different topics and can be read by
people with many different interests. Alternative strays away from the
term mainstream and wouldnt like to be considered as mainstream at all,
this cover different and less generic topics, it will look into the less famous
and possible cult following of celebritys, magazines that follow the
alternative spectrum are magazines like Kerrang. Now on the complete
opposite end of the spectrum to mainstream there is the niche market,
this tailors to an audience with a set interest and most magazines that are
included in the niche bracket are about one thing and things that are
included within that one thing. Vice magazine is a great example of this as
it follows all aspects of one topic. This has a lesser audience than
mainstream of course as not as many people are interested in just one
topic, most people want to buy a magazine to get loads of topics and find
out about everything.
Finally when comprising an audience profile you have to think where you
are getting your information and what sort of information it is. Research
done on any topic can be broken down into two categories, these are
quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative research is where the research is
a number or figures e.g. a NRS survey gives a percentage of a magazines
readership. A NRS percentage would be quantitative research as it gives
you a number review out of a hundred, and this is the main part of the
research. Qualitative research is more about words and a description of
something which cant be put into numbers; this is usually ideas or
opinions. An online review of a magazine is qualitative research because it
is about their opinion not a figure.
To conclude, in this essay I have covered the main topics related to
audience profiling and the aspects to include when creating a good
audience profile. I have also looked into what sort of markets your
audiences could be interested in and also I have looked into two main
types of research and how they are differentiated.