The document discusses how the author targeted their media product's audience based on research. They created a reader profile for Andrew, a 17-year-old male student, to represent their target audience. They conducted a survey that showed the audience being equally male and female, aged 15-24, and in the ABC1 social class. To appeal to this audience, the author included images and topics that younger people could relate to, used fonts and language appropriate for their age, and incorporated social media icons. They also priced the product at £2.50 based on survey responses to appeal to students' budgets.
2. Audience
To find the audience for my media product, I created a survey and posted it on survey monkey to interview
the public and to find out who would be interested in my music magazine.
I also interviewed a potential reader who fit the criteria from the results of my survey and asked for his
views on what would attract different audiences, and whether he would be interested in my product.
Alongside my own research I looked at the readership of similar music magazines, in regards to their
audiences age, class, gender and music tastes and styles to further research and find my target market.
I created a reader profile detailing the type of person who would be likely to read my media product.
Andrew is a 17 year old male and a full-time student. He is in the ABC1 social grading category and does have a part time job at
weekends, and when asked said he would pay around £2.50 for a magazine and only generally buys around 2 per month. As he was
growing up, his love for music grew, and in particular, the rock genre. From this Andrew developed a new style in how he dressed,
sporting hoodies with the names of his favourite artists on and taking fashion influence from his music heroes. This has given me the
idea to include competitions and as prizes, consider using band merchandise, for example t-shirts or hoodies, which when I asked,
Andrew said he would be interested in winning. He spends his time, when he’s not at college, with his friends and loves attending gigs
and festivals to see his favourite bands. Andrew also said that if there was a mobile app for my music magazine, he would download it
and would enjoy to find out exclusive information and read stories on the artists he is interested in, which has influenced my decision
to create an app for iPhone and android. He told me that he has never subscribed to a magazine before but if it was something he was
really passionate about, and it included exclusive interviews and interesting information about his favourite bands then he would
consider subscribing. Andrew also uses social networking sites, primarily Facebook and Twitter to keep in touch with his friends and
stay up to date with news from his heroes pages and said this would be a good way to keep him involved and excited about the issues.
3. Gender
From the results of my survey I know that an equal number of males and females will read my media product, so for this reason I need
my magazine to appeal to both genders and not be too specific to only one.
I have used a male on the front cover as I think this doesn’t necessarily generalise and males can identify with him and relate, while
females can also appreciate it and could attract them to the magazine. I have used images of males and females inside the magazine, on
my contents page, which will appeal to both.
I have used a colour which I think is neutral and although I am appealing to a niche market with this, I feel like both genders are included
and it isn’t specific to only one, unlike some other similar media products which are clearly centered around one gender due to the
colour scheme and house style used.
On my contents page I used language that is gender neutral with stories that aren’t centered towards one gender and will attract both.
4. Age
The survey I conducted showed me that the age of my readers will me pretty much all in the 15-
24 category, which meant I needed to use certain conventions to appeal to this age group.
In one way I feel I have done this, is again the images. I have used a young attractive male that is
in my targeted age group as I think that the young adults within my audience will relate to him
and find that they have more in common with him than if I used a model who was a lot younger
or older.
Another way I have tried to
target this audience is the
fonts used, I have used quite
a sophisticated font for
most of my magazine which
relates to the class I am
aiming at, but for example
on the front cover, I have
used a font which resembles
hand writing, almost like an
autograph, and I think this
will appeal to my young
adult target audience well,
as the sort of thing some of
this age group will do is
collect autographs of their
idols and favourite singers.
5. Age
I have targeted this age group
directly by using these social
media icons on my front cover
and my contents page as young
people are the most frequent
users of social networking sites
and by making my magazine
accessible from these too, I
think they will buy into the
product more and get involved.
The language I have used is
also quite age specific and in
my index I have referred to
certain events and stories
that I think will interest my
target age group and not
older or younger people. For
example I have dedicated a
few pages to ‘festival news’
which is very specific to this
age as children and younger
people are maybe too young
to go, with some festivals
applying age restrictions and
the majority of older people I
don’t think will have much of
an interest in going to a
festival or reading about it.
I also think that by using words like ‘tracks’ this attracts the audience I
want as it is slang that younger people use whereas if I was trying to
appeal to an older audience I would consider a more formal language as
they might not understand certain words and my target audience will.
I have included a competition to win tickets
to a music festival that focuses on the same
genre as my magazine. Again because it is a
festival it targets my chosen audience alone.
6. Class
My target audience, from secondary research I have done, is in the ABC1 category so I needed to pitch my media product accordingly. I
put a question in my survey asking how much my audience would be willing to pay, and the most common answer was £2.50-£3.00. My
audience, as they are in this social class, do have more of a disposable income and therefore are more likely to buy my product,
however I do not want to make it too expensive.
I also asked a question as to what sort of lifestyle my audience lives and the majority answered student. Which is why I decided to price
my product at £2.50 as it shows it is quite a high class magazine but it isn’t too expensive for a student to buy.
I have catered for the class through the font, as I feel it is fairly sophisticated while still appealing to a younger audience and also
through the colours as they are not too bright and bold, but they are softer and quiet and more pleasing to the eye in my opinion.