Audience ReportHenry Buckham and Robyn Collinson

Quantitative Data

Quantitative Data is a way to specifically measure readership figures and totals instead of specific opinions, and this is usually achieved by surveys and polls instead of questionnaires and surveys which ask for more detailed answers.

Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) – An industry body that offers estimates for both print and film media. For a fee they will devise an estimate for the total viewer count of a product or programme.

National Readership Survey (NRS) – A company that is more tailored for the print media industry, and uses socio-economic breakdowns estimate a total circulation and reader total for a print product.

Quantitative Data is useful for getting a rough estimate of figures for viewership but is unsuitable for acquiring more complex and detailed information about audiences.

PBM can use quantitative data to estimate readership and viewing figures for publications. This can then be used to adjust magazine content and advertising accordingly based on what is popular and what isn’t.

Qualitative Data

Qualitative Data is a much more detailed field of research and mainly deals with the audience opinions and thoughts on a specific product.

Questionnaires are very useful for getting detailed opinions from respondents.

They are cheap to produce and distribute and do not require as much effort as organizing an interview or other method. However, because they are usually distributed in the mail or other forms of delivery

there is sometimes no way to regulate what answers are given, therefore the interviewers may receive joke or bland answers that will not contribute towards the research.

Qualitative Data – Cont.

Focus Groups: A group of people are chosen to review the product under free conditions, and they are asked to provide their thoughts on the product.

Interviews: A one-on-one session where the interviewee will be asked a series of questions about what they like and dislike about the product, which will then go into more detail.

Qualitative Data is overall extremely useful for gathering detailed information about the feelings and opinions towards the product in question, with independent thought and discussion encouraged with respondents.

On the other hand it offers no figures relating to the popularity of the product itself, which is what quantitative research is suited for.

Using interviews or questionnaires, PB media can work out what their audience feels about their publications or products. With either of these methods, they present questions that ask for detailed opinions instead of check boxes that would solely be for a viewer count.

Audience Profiles

Audience profiles are a very apt way for media producers to gather more detailed and accurate information about their audience. They give information which is broken down into categories that define who they are.

This is a good method to find out the products audience but also makes it easier to decide what advertising brands to feature on their product.

Although audience profiling is useful for asking the general opinion of the biggest social groups, it does not cover all groups.

The upper class is deemed as to small of a group to be classified in general grouping.

Audience profiles could be useful to PBM as they allow a basic but broad insight into the different social groups and what they as a group enjoy and participate in. PBM could acquire a valuable insight into its chosen target audience by looking at audience profiles and then some more specific details.

This is an example of audience profiling done for the British music magazine, Q. As you can see the profile created here shows the median age of readers and their gender. It also shows various other statistics including the mass of their audience in ABC1 and the readership of it (the amount of people who buy it).

Age

Age is an important factor when classifying audiences as people of similar ages usually tend to have similar likes and dislikes, therefore buy the same product so the producers have to make the said product more suitable for their target audience.

For example, those in their twenties are more likely to live at home or rent than people in their thirties.

This factors into SES by giving an estimate of income and occupation because it is proven that younger people up to their twenties and slightly above will still be living at home.

PBM can use age research to market their products, by using content that relates to certain age groups. For example, a younger age group like young children would most likely not be interested in business and finance, whereas as a middle-old aged group might find this appealing. The same goes for vice versa, where middle aged people probably would not find appeal in bright, cartoonish children's magazines.

Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Socioeconomic Status is a term that defines the measure of a person’s economic (financial) and social position, which is based on income, occupation and education.

This is based on research that has suggested that a higher education leads to a larger income and a better/more stable occupation.

SES is used by several survey companies to estimate readership of magazines and newspapers by breaking down the core demographics and sorting them via the three categories, which allows them to work out the largest markets for that specific product.

For example, using SES to work out the market of the Daily Mail found that it’s most common market was the middle class, which took around a 64% share of the Daily Mail’s entire readership.

In general, SES is extremely useful for studying the core parts of the product’s viewership but most of the data is vague and does not offer much in way of detail, making this a good basis of audience research.

PBM, if making a magazine, would be able to use SES to appeal more specifically to its target audience. Looking at aspects such as education and income could help suit the magazine, such as lowering or raising the cost, and carefully choosing the language used. Magazines targeted at a lower income audience would be cheaper and use more basic language, whereas a high income, educated audience would see a more expensive magazine using lots of bigger, complex words and sentences.

Psychographics

Psychographics is a term that defines the study of the audience’s personality, lifestyle, beliefs and attitudes. This information is grouped into 7 distinct categories that each describe a certain personality type.

This way of grouping can be extremely useful for studying the audience of a product as the information collected and grouped allows for marketers to target them specifically by adhering to their tastes, beliefs and and opinions.

If PBM were to create a magazine, psychographics would be very useful in determining what appeals to their target audience specifically. As well as the magazine’s content, it is also very useful for advertisers and marketers, as they can use psychographics to find out what the audience truly enjoys and tailor their products as such.

This method of study is a good way to specifically appeal to a certain audience because it collects information that describes them as people – what they like, dislike, believe in, don’t believe in – and a magazine will be able to adapt it’s content to specifically match these tastes.

Unfortunately this usually means that any other audiences will be alienated thanks to this content. For example, if a publisher tried tailoring to an audience that enjoys sport a lot, people who don’t play sport would not find the content appealing and would likely not make a purchase.

Psychographics Cont.

There are 7 mains psychographic categories.

Example: Aspirer

The aspirer is materialistic and strives to be better in some way, and could be described as a dreamer. Aspirers tend to be very focused on their personal appearance and beauty, so naturally they may be drawn to health/fashion magazines such as Vogue or Cosmo.

PBM could appeal to aspirers by taking advantage of their materialistic tendencies and market a fashion/clothing mag to them.

Gender

Using personal characteristics to make generalizations about a group of people and how they re defined

Men and women tend to have different interests so finding out the genders of the majority of the audience will help the producers decide what things to feature and advertise in the said product.

Gender profiling is very vague, also occasionally males or females prefer some things aimed at the opposite sex and gender profiling doesn’t take that into consideration.

PBM could find gender profiling particularly useful as it allows publishers to get a generalization of each gender and then basing their publication around those traits. Some examples for males might be harsher language and colours, whereas women might prefer softer, smooth language and bright colours.

Mainstream or Niche?

Mainstream is the common current thought of the majority; this usually includes all popular and media culture.

Products aiming at those mainstream are trying to attract a large audience, whereas products aiming at niche are targeting a smaller audience whom have very particular interests, but as it’s a smaller category, producers try to capture a majority of the niche.

The producers of niche products, i.e. magazines are guaranteed a profit but a very small one compared mainstream magazines. For example, Model Railroader, a magazine solely aimed at those who are interested in model railway.

Although, magazine such as Heat and OK! are mainstream, they only focus on targeting a select set of people, those who are interested in the lives of celebrities whereas newspapers, like The Sun, do write about celebrities but also about real life and real, important news stories.

PBM can use the mainstream and niche genres to market its magazine. If they are aiming for a much wider audience, they would go for a subject that is either broad, easily accessible and relatable. Common mainstream themes would be news, music, and video games. If PBM were aiming for a niche market, they could choose a more obscure or less accessible interest, like modeling or tabletop gaming. Niche genres tend to be small in size but very passionate.

Geodemographics

Geodemographics is a study that involves data from the National Census. A common belief is that people living in the same neighbourhood will often share the same lifestyle, beliefs and attitudes.

Using this information marketers can aim to target specific areas that hold similar traits. This means that a well-aimed product can bring in a wide audience from this area.

Using geodemographics can also be helpful in accessing other data, such as the wealth of people in the area, which can then factor into Socioeconomic Study.

Geodemographics is useful for acquiring information about a large area of people and their general interests which can help with appealing to them, but the information is not detailed, and there may be clashes in the kinds of interests and beliefs in a certain group of people.

PBM could use geodemographics data to specifically market a product to a certain are of people. An example of this might be a publication of a local hobby, landmark, or area. To be a bit more general, they could market a hobby magazine that has a large number of followers in the area, with the idea that copies will be sold because many people share that passion.