Media Arts Audience Analysis

1. Media Arts Project

2. Audience Analysis
Population of York
• The total population of York in 2011 was a total of 198,051 people. 101,797 of
those people are women and 96,254 of those people were men within the city
limits. This means that 51.4% of the population is female and 48.6% are males.
• Age statistics in York show that there are 158,773 adults above the age of 16
living in York. The majority are between the ages of 35 and 54 with 51,588
people within this age group making the median age 38.
• York Employment Statistics show in 2011 there were 98,721 people in the
workforce between the ages of 16 and 74.

3. Audience Analysis
Media Events In York
• The university of York has an annual event hosted by their Theatre, Film and Television Department where they
display the work of interactive media students to the public, the showcase shows critical and user experience
design, virtual reality experiences, games and apps. It is free and no booking is required.
• Aesthetica Short Film Festival- The Aesthetica short film festival returns 6-10 November. With over 400 films
and 100 industry events taking place. These short film themes involve so many different themes such as drama,
thrillers, comedy, documentary, dance, experimental, fashion, music video, artistic film, advertisement,
animation, VR and Immersion and so many more so that there is something for everyone.
• Every year ASFF gives the public a chance to come to their master classes where industry leaders from a range
of disciplines to speak about their craft. For 2019 this includes cultural powerhouses such as British Vogue, i-D
and Rankin. Allowing you to have the best tools to improve your career in media.
• ASFF audience ranges from 11-25 because there are some events for children of the ages 11-14 such as the
youth Engagement however the majority of the events such as the workshops are for people aged 16-26
because these events teach you how to improve your skills in your chosen topic and give you tips on how to
improve your career in your chosen topic.
• The ticket prices also help to make the event more available to people of the ages 16-25 because the tickets are
not too expensive and you are able to pick which events you want to see, altering your ticket price. The tickets
being such a low price is good because audiences such as 16 year olds who only make £4 an hour if they even
have a job might struggle to come to the event if it is overpriced so making sure the event is affordable to even
people aged 16 helps to increase the chances of them coming.

4. Audience Analysis
Primary research
• From talking to people aged 17-20 I have discovered that a large amount of them are interested in doing
something to do with media such as photography, film and print but don’t know how they could
improve their skills, don’t know about some of the most well known media events and tend to lose
interest in these topics because they don’t see any advertisement about what they’re interested in.
• I asked 7 people from the ages of 17-20 if they are interested in Photography, Film or Print and 4 of
them said they were interested in one of those topics and when asked if they have any hobbies about
their chosen topics they all said no because they either don’t know how to get involved with the topic or
they cant afford to get involved.
• When talking to this audience I also discovered that they are more likely to read a magazine if it has a
bright and vibrant colour scheme than if the colour scheme is bland and dark. However when doing this
I will need to make sure that my colour scheme matches the chosen image that I have for my
background otherwise it will look unprofessional making my cover overall unappealing.

5. Audience Analysis
Secondary Research
• I have also discovered that my target audience of 16-25 year olds are more likely to pick up a magazine
that has little information on the cover (like the one above) then one that has a cover full of information
because this audience prefers information that is straightforward and doesn’t give the reader and
unnecessary information. This will also mean that inside my magazine I should try to stick to using only
important information and to try avoid going into too much detail so that my target audience doesn’t
feel overwhelmed or put off from reading my magazine. Because my audience doesn’t prefer a large
amount of information this might mean that I could make my magazine more appealing if I have a larger
image to text ratio giving the audience a better idea of what they are going to see at the event making
them more comfortable with going because they know what to expect. Because of this specific style that
I am aiming to do for my target audience I think a education type of magazine would be the best suited
for this target audience.

6. Existing Products
• The Company magazine is a magazine that is aimed at 16-24 year old
females talking about a range of different topics such as beauty
products, fashion, celebrates, music, careers and travel. Because this
magazine talks about such a wide range of topics this helps to make
the magazine appeal to everyone's needs.
• Ever since the company moved to making their magazines online the
traffic on their website has increased from 46% with return visitors
up to 99% and over the past six months the social traffic has
increased by 140%. This proves that my target audience is more
likely to see my magazine if it is online and is easily accessible rather
then if it is in a shop front. Not to mention that they have a strong
media presence on multiple social media websites such as
Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter which is where their
target audience mostly resides.
• However even though this magazine brand targets the same age
range as what I am targeting they specifically target the female
audience rather then males and talk about different topics to what I
am going to be talking to in mine meaning that they will have used
different technique’s such as using a large amount of pink text and
putting famous female celebrities on the cover to make their
magazine more appealing to their female audience.

7. Existing Products
• The total film magazine is aimed at 16-35 year old males and females
talking about upcoming films and reviewing the ones that have
already been released.
• Total film magazine is both online and can be bought in person. This
appeals to the target audience of 16-35 year olds because some will
much prefer getting the magazine online because of how much easier
and cheaper it is but others will prefer to buy the physical version of
the magazine because a large amount of their audience collect items
to do with their favorite films.
• Even though this target audience is slightly larger then my 16-25 ratio,
I think that Total Films target audience and techniques will be similar
to mine because I want to target both male and female audiences and
I’m targeting a similar age of audience. I think that the color scheme
of this magazine appeals to this target audience because the color
scheme makes it so the first thing that you see is the words “Film” and
“Avengers”. This appeals to the audience because they are interested
in film and at the time this magazine was released Avengers was an
extremely popular film that thousands of people were interested in
including people that don’t normally watch many films meaning that
when people see the word Avengers on the magazine cover they are
instantly thinking what the magazine might be saying about the
avengers film.

8. Existing Products
• This Photoshop magazine is targeted for both males and
females and uses a range of different techniques to make
it equally appealing to all genders rather by just one by
having an image of a women on the front of the
magazine to make the cover stand out more to females,
using more masculine colors to make the magazine more
appealing to the male audience and using a bold but
neutral looking font for the text that doesn’t look too
feminine or masculine.
• I would say that this magazine appeals to people round
the age of 16-35 because this book has both parts where
it goes into full detail which will be more appealing to
the older part of the audience and short but simple
tutorials for the younger part of the audience that find
too much information unappealing. I think the even
picture to text ratio also helps to make this magazine
more appealing to this audience because not only does it
make it easier to learn but gives the reader a rest from
all the information when needed. The layout of the cover
and double page spread also helps with this by the way
that they have number coded certain parts and make it
clear for the reader what he most important thing is that
they need to be looking at.

9. Existing Products
• The maker of this magazine has also used a variety of
fonts, colors and techniques to show the audience how
professional they are and that they could too make a
great looking magazine with this product that’s being
advertised. Personally I think the text “teach yourself” on
the cover makes the magazine more appealing because I
like being independent and from talking to other 18-19
year olds at my college and in my friends group outside
of college they have also told me that they prefer being
independent and saying that they don’t get many
chances to prove that they are independent and express
themselves. Meaning that seeing this on the cover might
make them more likely to buy the magazine because it
gives them a chance to teach themselves without
anyone else’s opinions.
• The magazine is also made more enticing by the word
“masterclass” which gives off the impression that this
book is the best and has been made by a professional.
We can also see this by the type of formal font that the
word masterclass has been written in.

10. Audience appeal-Primary Audience
• Younger audience
• Talk about programs and technology that is available to them
• Don’t go into a large amount of detail
• Use an equal picture to text ratio
• Make a clear and simple layout that is easy to understand
• Make sure to use reasonably sized text so that it is easy to read and doesn’t look too
overwhelming
• Have a matching theme and design throughout the magazine to make it more visually
appealing
• For my primary audience they find an equal balance of un-formal and formal language more
appealing then just having the whole magazine being formal
Short and simple amounts
of detail that gets straight
to the point
Clear step by step layout
that isn’t overwhelming
Light blue color scheme makes the
cover stand out more and more
interesting because its more unusual
compared to other competitors

11. Audience appeal-Secondary Audience
• Older audience
• Talk about in detail how certain things have been made
• Have a larger word to picture ratio
• Make sure to use reasonably sized text so that it is easy to read and doesn’t look too
overwhelming
• Have a matching theme and design throughout the magazine to make it more visually
appealing
More in-depth detail that
is a lot more complex.
Probably better suited for
an audience that knows
Photoshop well.
The layout is not as clear and
is starting to get more
overwhelming to the
primary audience
Has used images to
help make the tutorial
easier
Gives the reader 13 video
lessons if they prefer
watching videos rather then
reading

12. Production Techniques
• I am going to make my project by using Photoshop, Word, access to internet and a camera. I will be
using my camera to get photos of York and any other images that I might need so that there is no risk of
my product getting sued for copyright because I will own every image I take. I will use the internet to
access any information that I need to make sure that the information that I’m putting in my magazine is
true. When doing this I will be using websites such as Issuu where there is a range of different magazines
and information about the topics that I will be talking about as well as the website for ASFF (Aesthetica
Short Film Festival) where I will be getting all the information on the event and then write down all the
information in my own words on Word. Once I have done this I will use Photoshop to put everything
together to make a magazine. This includes editing shots that I have took and turning my chosen image
into a professional magazine cover and double page spread talking about media events in York and
helping to spread awareness of how easy it is for anyone to involve themselves in creative media
without having to go to college or university.

13. Production Techniques
• For my product I Intend to use shots similar to these ones that I took for my last project
because I think they help to show many different aspects of York and gives me a rough Idea
of the types of photos that I am looking to use in my project. However when using images
like this in my product I will alter them to make them look more appealing. For example for
the photo on the left I would crop out the bus and people in the bottom of the picture so
that the audience purely focuses on the sign and not the surroundings and for the image on
the left I would use Photoshop to make the image more vibrant so that it is visually more
appealing to look at.

14. Bibliography
• N/A. (2011). York Population Demographics. Available:
http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/york-population/. Last accessed 19th Sep 2019.
• N/A. (2019). Interactive Media Showcase. Available:
http://yorkfestivalofideas.com/2019/events/im-sunday/. Last accessed 19th Sep 2019.
• N/A. (2019). Aesthetica Short Film Festival . Available: https://www.asff.co.uk/. Last accessed
19th Sep 2019.
• N/A. (3 sep 2019). National living wage rates /National minimum wages rates. Available:
https://www.rossmartin.co.uk/tax-guides/147-national-minimum-wage-rates. Last accessed
19th Sep 2019.
• N/A. (N/A). Target Audience . Available:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zy24p39/revision/2. Last accessed 19th Sep 2019.
• Ishbel Macleod. (2014). Company Magazine to go online-only to “support the desires” of its
target audience. Available: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/08/14/company-magazine-
go-online-only-support-desires-its-target-audience. Last accessed 20th Sep 2019.
• N/A. (2019). Total film . Available: https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/film/total-film-
magazine-subscription/. Last accessed 20th Sep 2019.
• komanh. (2016). Teach yourself photoshop 2016. Available:
https://issuu.com/komanh/docs/teach_yourself_photoshop_2016. Last accessed 20th Sep
2019.