Unit 1 Section 4- Understanding target audiences of Media Products

4.1 Classifying audiences
Mainstream audiences: An audience that includes a wide range of people.
Niche audiences: The audience of a specialist interest media product that may only appeal to a small number of people or those that fall within a specific demographic profile (e.g. age, ethnicity)

An audience is an individual or collective group of people who read or consume any media text

Why are audiences important?

• Without audiences there would be no media
• Media organisations produce media texts to make profit- no audience means no profit
• The mass media is becoming more competitive than ever to attract more audiences in different ways and stay profitable 

Impact of new technology 

Old media (TV, Print, Radio) which used to have high audience numbers must now work harder to maintain audience numbers.

Digital technology has also led to an increasing uncertainty over how we define an audience, with the general agreement that a large group of people reading the same thing at the same time

Fragmented audience

The division of audiences into smaller groups due to the variety of media outlets.

The aim is to hit as many people as possible/sell more copies/ generate a larger audience. But measuring that audience becomes hard! You may have some people that only look online.

Types of audiences

Mass audience is a different way of saying mainstream audience 

Mass V Niche

Mass: Breaking Bad, Toy Story OK
Niche: MOTD, Football Factory, Match

Demographics- Measurable characteristics of media consumers such as age, gender, complexion, education and income level.
Psychographics- Psychographic segmentation divides the market into groups based on social class, lifestyle and personality characteristics