Research Techniques for Media Industries

1.     (typed in ‘Justin Bieber’s rise to fame, came up)

Aaron Saenz

 March 16th, 2010

http://singularityhub.com/2010/03/16/justin-bieber-and-the-rising-importance-of-accelerating-media/#

This website seems reliable because it’s quite recent to the time of Justin Bieber’s rise to fame.  This website doesn’t only show Justin Bieber’s case, it shows the popularity of Lady Gaga and Oprah over time.  It uses comparisons from Google Trends.  Although its sources are solely from the internet, this is of significant relevance to what I’m researching.  It has the potential for bias as the articles on the website are only written by one author.  

2.     (typed in ‘Youtube fame, also one of the first results)

Andrew Bossom

23 December 2010

http://knol.google.com/k/how-to-achieve-youtube-fame#

This is an instructional article on how to achieve fame, via Youtube.  This is seemingly an authoritative example as it was one of the first results which came up in Google Search Results.  This article comes from a website which anyone can write on, which makes me debate about the reliability of the article in question, but from reading articles similar in nature to this one, it seems that there is a broad consensus on the issue about utilising Youtube to achieve fame.  Technical terms assure me that the article is written by a semi-professional/professional who has experience in marketing.  Another thing that assures me that the article is reliable, is that it has a 3 ½ star rating.  However, the rating contradicts itself because it’s not stated whether the article was rated by a user, or an administrator, but ratings generally prove effectiveness of an article, when theory is put in to practice.  This is the most recent article that I’ve found so far, combining the other factors together, it’s a definitely reliable, but as an article on the website can be written so easily by anyone, it won’t be used primarily as a source of research.  BAD SOURCE

3.     (Found on Google, popular search results)

http://www.google.com/trends?q=justin+bieber

Google

Most recent up to 4 days

Recent results in search trends for Justin Bieber.  Results conclude that since early-mid 2009 (the year Justin Bieber started posting him singing on YouTube) search results have risen for him.  He’s been searched for most in Asia.

4.      (typed in impact of the internet on the music industry)

http://music.business.edu.pe/

Author unknown

25 January 2011

This article assesses the impact of the internet on the music industry, the positives and the negatives.  This is an objective article as it assesses both positive impacts and negative impacts.  The article doesn’t however list an author, so the reliability of the article can still be questioned.  BAD SOURCE

5.     (typed in impact of the internet on the music industry, first result)

http://www.panoeconomicus.rs/casopis/desetibroj/a%20new%20era%20for%20the%20music%20industry.pdf

Tassos Patokos

2008

Although published in 2008, this article is written by a reliable author.  I’ve searched for him using Google, he’s written books on business and theoretical articles on games.  Like the last article, it goes in to piracy and evaluates the impact of technology on music.

6.     (typed in ‘Youtube and celebrities)

http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Lifestyle/10-YouTube-Success-Stories.html

Amanda Greene

July 7^th, 2010

This is a list of popular and substantiated list of Youtube videos, which have made ordinary people famous.  It gives very recent examples, which I could use and compare to the current success of the people in the videos.

7.     (typed in to Google ‘Justin Bieber biography)

http://www.justinbieberbiography.org/

Author not cited
Date not cited

This article is a biography for Justin Bieber.  It charts his progress as a famous singer, and a bit of his background.  Although no information that you couldn’t find elsewhere appears in the article, the article appears to be reliable as it has been written within the last month, judging by the information about his albums last year and his film which has been released today.   The information can be confirmed by looking at other articles on Justin Bieber.  However, the author of the article isn’t cited, making it questionable as to the accuracy of the author, as I don’t know the author’s background.  BAD SOURCE

8.     (typed in to Ask Jeeves ‘amount of people who listen to music on the internet’)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3495921.stm

BBC

27^th February, 2004

This is a discussion on if the internet has changed the way people listen to music.  Ordinary people have given their opinion on the website.   The article displays a particularly biased view on internet music downloads, which may influence what users of the website will write on it.  However, the article has failed to influence the reader, as most of the users have commented; advocating the internet for music downloads.  Although the article along with the comments, were written in 2004, it shows that the use of the internet for downloading music was still popular even then.  Although not directly related to my research, I can give a rough estimate from is as to how many people now use the internet.  BAD SOURCE

9.     (typed in to Google ‘of people who listen to music on the internet’)

http://www.fastcompany.com/1672447/the-state-of-internet-music-on-youtube-pandora-itunes-and-facebook#

Austin Carr

July 20^th, 2010

This compares internet music streaming and download sites.  Youtube is the most popular website for listening to music, according to the author.  However, it doesn’t state how many people download music from the internet as opposed to how many people buy physical albums.  However, it does bear relevance to my research, as it shows popularity in internet sites.

10.  (typed in to Ask Jeeves ‘internet music celebrity youtube’)

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1640050/ellen-degeneres-signs-internet-sensation-greyson-chance-new-label.jhtml

Gil Kaufman

May 26^th 2010

Another case study.  This time – a more recent example – Greyson Chance.  He became a Youtube celebrity in a matter of days, after posting his cover of Lady Gagga’s ‘Paparazzi’ on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxDlC7YV5is&playnext=1&list=PLADE965D2421A2E4D

The article reports of future plans for the up-and-coming star.  However, the article doesn’t evaluate the cons to becoming an artist on Youtube at such an early age.  This article comes from the American MTV website.  MTV is famous news/music video network, which is known for its false rumours.  However, this particular article can be backed up by the video on Youtube, and by analysing YouTube trends.

11.  (book)

Rock and Pop Timeline

John Black

2003

This book charts in a very detailed way, the progression in music, from the 1960s onwards.  One flaw of this source is that it was written in 2003, so it doesn’t give an up-to-date count on music on the Internet.  Another flaw is that the book doesn’t specifically cover Internet music celebrities, and the only genres it covers are rock and pop.  These are the genres that are most widely listened to.  BAD SOURCE

12.  (book)

Public Relations and the Social Web: How to use social media and web 2.0 in communications

Rob Brown

2009

This source is about the internet, again, it’s not specifically about internet music celebrities, but it has a section devoted to the power of new media as well as file/media sharing websites.  The book gives recent examples, so I can rely on it as part of my research.

13.  (typed in to Google ‘website statistics)

Up to 30 days ago

http://www.alexa.com/topsites

Website statistics.  This will aid me in my research to find out how many people use music websites and watch/listen to music on the internet.  Professional companies use this data to find out statistics and analytics for their websites.

14.  (typed in to Google ‘amount of people who listen to music on the internet’, first result that came up)

http://www.frankwbaker.com/mediause.htm

This gives statistics for the amount of people who use different media sources, and the level of media consumption among people.  This is a highly reliable website as it cites all of the information it has – and the sources are accurate aswell, Nielson, for example.  It has a range of sources; some however, were published in 2004.  Most are recent up to 2010.

The assignment states that I need to carry out research about an aspect of new media, remaining objective in my methods of research, I need to:

• Include references to primary and secondary sources (2 non web-based sources, 15 useful items of research and 5 sources of no use)
• Primary research (2+ different methods)
• Qualitative and quantitative research
• Cross reference primary and secondary data in my report, to conclude.

I’ve chosen to research how the internet has enabled the promotion of celebrities in the music industry:

• Youtube promotion (primary and secondary comparatitative research)
• Justin Bieber case study (secondary research)
• Opportunities on registration websites (secondary)
• Impact of the internet on the music industry (primary qualitative research - interview - non web-based)
• Amount of people engaged with online music (primary qualitative research - interview - non web-based)
• Other online services (secondary)
• Success of other artists before the internet (secondary)

At the start of this lesson, we were asked to compare two websites. I contrasted two websites which were completely different, to make the comparison easier for me. These websites were: www.getsigned.com and www.musicsubmit.com.

I need to compare 2 music websites according to the criteria below:

Informative

Navigation

Links and labels

Search results

Readability

Performance

Content

www.musicsubmit.com

On this site, the user will need to sign-up to receive further information, but the basic function – what the website sets out to achieve – is made clear with its highlighted text “we promote your music”. The homepage has a formal and professional feel, with text about what they do.

There aren’t that many buttons apart from the ‘signup’/’membership’ ones. The buttons are simply designed for the user to click on, there’s nothing that makes you want to click on it. The links don’t elaborate too well on the site, the text is small, plain and uses boring words. There are hardly any results for what I want to find.

The text size is readable for anyone, but there is a lack of pictures and flashy buttons, solid blocks of text and it looks like no emphasis has been put on the text, which would fail to attract teenagers. It looks by the lack of pictures in this, that it’s designed for adults. The font is basic and the line length is short.

Pages load quickly due to lack of graphics on there and plain fonts. However, it doesn’t hurt the eyes or look messy.

The website doesn’t offer anything out of the ordinary. It lacks information of their services, not detailed enough and no statistics what so ever.

www.getsigned.com

The homepage grabs my attention with colourful, star shapes, more pictures than there is text and everything is evenly, neatly spread out. There’s nothing that’s crammed in to the middle of the page, like there is with musicsubmit.com. It contains quotes from customers who use the site – and the “show us you’re a star!” challenges the user to signup. Straight away it feels like it’s ushering you in to a lively atmosphere and an interactive feel. The buttons are brightly coloured, smooth (round edges) and cartoony, familiar icons. The buttons highlight when the user selects them, and options come down.

Links are more elaborative. When I click on the links, I find exactly what I want. The website has a search button, unlike the other website. When I search, it has search criteria, which makes it so much more helpful than the other website as I can find whatever I want, and the website understands what I mean.

It’s easy to read without being distracted by pictures, but the pictures add to the text because they’re relevant and they’re placed in the right part of the page. The website loads easily, but the pictures aren’t that big and the graphics aren’t filled with animations or anything too rich in colour.

The website offers exclusive content and membership. What’s more, it lists contacts and useful information such as works by artists, videos and tracks. It has far more pages than the last website and everything is of relevance to the user.

One website used text over excessivley, had a lack of detailed information, but was easy on the eye and had a professional look. The other one had a flashy web page, easy on the eye too, but more colourful, intricate, had a balance between pictures and text, and had a community feel to it.

The criteria that our teacher set out for us could’ve been improved upon as it didn’t consider target audience or even interests/ability. The information asked of us was too quantative as we had to work off a rating system to conclude. If our conclusions were based off opinion, it’d be more effective. We should’ve then compared our conclusions, in order to see whether we might’ve misjudged the website. Lastly: I only had a limited amount of time to complete the task.

I also reviewed types of research that we haven’t carried out in previous lessons.

Methods of research

Experiments –independent/dependant variable (independent – children’s behavior) (dependant – game)

Not completely conclusive, unless conducted along with a survey at the beginning, asking the individual to describe themselves. You might need a parent to describe the child aswell as opinions may differ. It’s hard to be conclusive.

Participant Observation – covert/overt (hawthorne effect)

Covert - The benefit of the covert observation is that the participant doesn’t know that they’re being watched, so they behave normally. An accurate depiction of their characteristics.

Overt – It’s fair on the participant being observed, but it will result in the Hawthorne effect. Refer to ‘Big Brother’.

Historical research – comparing old information with current information

It gives a comparison and context.

Comparative analysis

Comparing two different media products. For example, two websites. There should be a clear, objective criteria.


Competitor analysis

Comparing another product on the market to mine.

Is your website reliable?

Why – should the audience view the website?

Who – are the target audience? (are they the appropriate audience: demographics, psychographics)

What – does the website aim to achieve? Is the context of the information? (Is it biased intentionally?)

When – will the audience want to click on your website?

Where – will the text and pictures go? Are the links?

How – is it reliable? Unbiased? Sources? Secondary/Primary? Up-to-date information? Accuracy? Will the audience interpret it in the right way?

A good questionnaire contains:

·      Unassuming questions

·      Objective questioning

·      A variety of interrelated questions, some to compare

·      Opinions on the qualitative (open) questions and tick boxes on the closed (quantitative) questions.

·      Mixture of facts and opinions

·      Questions which aren’t misleading

·      Well phrased questions

·      Understandable

·      Questions with a clear purpose and direction

 We produced a questionnaire.  The task was designed so that we could learn from our failures, before we do the real thing.  Follow the link to take my questionnaire:

 http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/H8PS76C

We were given a research task to test how effective our methods of research are.  We’ve spent approximately half an hour going through a magazine, checking the proportion of white, black, mixed raced, and Asian women.  We discussed what makes someone white, black, mixed race or Asian.  We are going to count each and every woman in the magazine, then make a rough estimate of the percentage.

Ethnic representation of women in magazines:

 Ethnicity

White: 75%

Mixed Race: 10%

Black: 10%

Asian: 5%

We concluded that it’s to do with skin colour, tone of their skin, facial complexion and what country they look like they come from.  This has been quite a challenge because we don’t know enough about the models background in the magazine, we can only judge on their skin tone, but their image may have been edited. 

No matter the exact numbers which we estimated the percentage from; we know that some of the UK magazines are still partial to white women.  The problem with our research is that we haven’t carried out research about ethnic representation in other countries, so we’re hardly an authority on that matter.  In other countries, cultures and religions, representation of women will be different, but one thing that I can conclude with is that ethnic representation is based off readership of the magazine and what the standards in the country are.  I’m surprised that white women are so predominant, considering how multicultural Britain is supposed to be. 

To get a broader perspective on the issue, I’d need to use the internet to carry out further research.  I could acquire information from secondary sources that are authentic; this would make information much quicker, and confirm that the conclusions that I’ve come to about ethnic representation in magazines are accurate.

Social Media Research, 5 August 2010 by Sean Hargrave

This article sets out the unprecedented effect that social media research has had on global companies.  There are several examples which communicate the effectiveness of social media, consumer feedback, the cost effective way of getting through to the target market and how social media has led to an increase in branding and product quality. 

Social media research is 10% cheaper than postal stamps and takes a lot less long “Now we put out a questionnaire and get far quicker responses” the manufacturing of the product can then happen more quickly.  Coca Cola’s Facebook fan page has over 7million followers, there’s a booklover’s fan page, Dell IdealStorm and M&S Direct also use social media research to find out from their customers what improvements they’d like to see in their products.  Social media research is accessible to everyone and although it’s not direct and doesn’t target all consumers, it targets the majority of customers, is the most cost effective and builds the most income. 

Primary

Is to acquire information first hand.  It’s the type of research you can trust the most because it’s carried out solely by you.  You could VOX pop, interview, carry out counts, and carry out surveys.  Primary research is authentic research.

 Secondary

Information which you get from a second party.  Although it’s easier than primary research, you can’t rely on it as much because you don’t know how the research has been conducted or if it’s reliable.  You can watch a documentary, read an article or ask someone about their research. 

Qualitative/quantitative

Qualitative research is to do with opinions, and can be used for amending products or trying to relate to the audience and see inside their mind.  Quantitative research is researching facts, trying to find out where they’re most likely to go, what their most likely to do and what they like and dislike.  Quantitative research is less direct.

 Objectivity

Objective research is carrying out different types of research, taking all factors in to account and listening to all of the target market.

 Fast and reliable research must require a combination of primary and secondary research.  Secondary research is a fast way of finding out information, but if there is something you’re not sure of then you cross reference the research with your own.  Therefore, the information is accurate and has been conducted without taking up a huge amount of time.

We split up in to groups to emulate the work of a focus group.  My group consisted of: Lucy, Carla, Katie, Heidi, Rochelle, Shakira and Jerome.

 A focus group is a group, which is recruited to conduct research on a specific area.  Focus groups can work for the government, environmental agencies, the finance sector, or industrial work such as film marketing.  Focus groups can make a difficult situation or decision made easier.  For example, the film ‘I Am Legend’ used a focus group before the release, and the ending was changed because none of the audience liked it.

The film industry use focus groups to research in to potential ideas for a film and content.  Focus groups also carry out primary research with the target audience of the film – which helps them improve upon aspects of the idea or film, as opinions come through.  Mostly qualititative research with focus groups for films. 

 From our exercise of working in a focus group, I’ve discovered that focus groups work as a team to contribute ideas as to how market and create the product with the target audience in mind. 

The task took 20 minutes, but a longer discussion would’ve been ideal because I didn’t go away with anything that I didn’t already know.

Nielsen Solutions

Nielsen is a media research company based in the UK, which works for other companies to improve:

 Advertising effectiveness (how viable is a company’s advertising? Is it getting through to the right audience? Advertising effectiveness is measured through TV, Internet, mobile phones etc.  They look at statistics, tactics of competitors, suggest strategies and schedules)

Brand and portfolio management  (improve product portfolios to get across to the desired market, branding portfolio performances, which products or services are the key to success and growth)

Market performance (advise companies on spending, aid them with time management, tracking consumer engagement, simulation and planning applications, ROI evaluation on marketing and statistics)

Market structure and segmentation (focusing on industrial and consumer segments, find effective channels for distribution, look at the best market for the product/service, identify opportunity in terms of consumers, and cross platform marketing)

Product innovation and renovation (identify which products stand the best chance of thriving, assess consumer/brand assortment and the retail environment, track current sales of a company’s products, and testing the product using consumer research)

Retail and shopping market (optimising distribution, product price, sales, increase sales, looking at shopping loyalty and engage customers, building better relationships with competitors and increasing shares)

 They offer solutions to companies, not only looking at data but analysing the data and suggesting strategic improvement.  They help companies to capitalise on their success and gain a captive audience/market.

BARB – Broadcaster’s Audience Research Board

This is a company which holds data for TV channels and lists audience statistics.  RSMB,  Ipsos MORI and TNS are the companies which it enlists to carry out research.  It uses secondary data from other companies, and provides the statistics to TV channels.  BARB is crucial because TV channels need to invest their money in programmes that are actually being watched, so they need statistics to see which programmes they can improve upon or drop from a schedule or withdraw the programme from TV. 

Quoted from the BARB website:

 “BBC1

w/e 26 Dec 2010

000’s

1

EASTENDERS (SAT 2005)

12,608

2

COME FLY WITH ME (SAT 2201)

12,474

3

DOCTOR WHO (SAT 1801)

12,110

4

EASTENDERS (MON 2000)

11,418

5

THE ROYLE FAMILY (SAT 2103)

11,285

6

EASTENDERS (TUE 1931)

10,961

7

STRICTLY COME DANCING (SAT 1904)

10,957

8

EASTENDERS (THU 1929)

10,124

9

EASTENDERS (FRI 1959)

10,117

10

EASTENDERS (SUN 2030)

9,112

BBC HD

w/e 26 Dec 2010

000’s

1

TOP GEAR (SUN 2000)

836

2

TOP GEAR (TUE 2003)

506

3

MIRANDA (MON 2033)

118

4

FILM: THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION (SAT 2000

101

5

DOCTOR WHO (WED 1905)

79

6

CAROLS FROM KING’S (FRI 1848)

76

7

WHISTLE AND I’LL COME TO YOU (FRI 2104)

73

8

QI (FRI 2202)

71

9

DOCTOR WHO (TUE 1903)

64

10

OZ AND HUGH RAISE THE BAR (THU 2103)

63

CBBC

w/e 26 Dec 2010

000’s

1

TRACY BEAKER RETURNS (MON 1704)

411

2

HOLE IN THE WALL (THU 0901)

388

3

TRACY BEAKER RETURNS (TUE 1702)

359

4

HOLE IN THE WALL (FRI 0900)

359

5

DANI’S HOUSE (MON 1734)

356

6

TRACY BEAKER RETURNS (WED 1703)

348

7

HORRIBLE HISTORIES (MON 0933)

346

8

HOLE IN THE WALL (MON 1631)

346

9

HORRIBLE HISTORIES (FRI 0933)

345

10

HOLE IN THE WALL (WED 0901)

334

BBC4

w/e 26 Dec 2010

000’s

1

ONLY CONNECT (MON 2032)

664

2

WALLANDER: FIREWALL (MON 2203)

423

3

WALLANDER (SWEDISH VERSION) (SUN 2101)

416

4

JULIA BRADBURY’S GERMAN WANDERLUST (WED 2030)

342

5

DIRK GENTLY (TUE 2211)

318

6

BERGERAC (WED 2201)

306

7

INDIAN HILL RAILWAYS (THU 1900)

300

8

FILM: AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (SAT 2101)

295

9

FILM: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (TUE 2030)

291

10

THE ANDY WILLIAMS CHRISTMAS SHOW (THU 2001)

280

”

From this data, we can see that the most viewed TV shows are cult TV shows and TV soaps.  Whilst BBC4 still gets a lot of viewers, BBC gets tonnes more.

Alexa

Alexa are a web information company which provide statistics to websites, to inform them how successful they are.  The top 5 sites according to ‘alexa.com’ are:

Google

Facebook

YouTube (young females 18-24 in education with no work, are using this website the most.  A quarter of internet users go on YouTube.  1 in 16 people in the world use YouTube)

Yahoo!

Windows Live

From this data, I can tell that the most popular sites are social networking sites and research sites. 

Research is essential for businesses to thrive.  It’s required as businesses need to find out about their market and how they could succeed.  They may research in to other competitors and this is what Nielson provides.  Businesses may not have time to carry out market and competitor research as they’re pre-occupied, so they may employ another company to carry out research for them. Without market and competitor research, nothing would improve and no businesses would succeed.

What things need to be considered when creating a new magazine?

Purpose of the magazine - the magazine needs to be created with an objective in mind.  The magazine will leave the reader going away knowing a lot more.

Title - When the publishers consider the title, they need to consider whether or not the title is appropriate for the purpose of the magazine and the target audience.  The title will need to attract the target market too. 

Content- What can the target audience expect to find in the magazine? Is there too much content for one publication? Is it feasible to publish more content in another publication? How many of the readers will be engaged with what’s inside the magazine?

Target Market  - is the most fundamental thing to consider when creating a magazine.  This will determine how much the magazine will profit and how many people are interested.  The topics that the magazine covers must be scrutinised in relation to the target market.  Research needs to be carried out to receive feedback from the target audience occasionally, to see what they like and what they don’t like in a magazine. 

Font - The font must be appropriate for the target audience.  Is it readable? Does it look to quirky? Too formal? Too mundane? The font must attract the target audience and make them want to open the magazine. 

Text size -  must be readable.  Smaller text is appropriate for older people and larger text shouts more - appropriate for younger people.  The text must be readable, not look boring but at the same time, not insult the target audience.  Adults wouldn’t want to look at babyish text in a magazine.  

Pictures - There must be a balance between pictures and text.  Yet again, this fits in with text: younger people would want a more colourful magazine and less text and more pictures because their attention span is low, adrenaline on high.  Adults have a higher concentration span and don’t need a motivation to continue on to the next page apart from text.  

Language - Parents don’t want their small children using obscene language and the language needs to be basic for young children to understand it, so basic language is used in magazines targeted at young children.  Teenagers - you can get away with using obscene or colloquial language when writing a magazine with teenagers in mind.  Adults - will be more mature, less obscene language should be used, formal and advanced language to reflect their intelligence and engage their interest.  Mode of Address is to be considered too; people can be divided in to categories; some people, no matter what their age, can accept more complex or more rudimentary language.  

Layout - The positioning of the text and pictures on the page and what shape it takes.  The target audience will again need to be considered.  There is a science behind page layout: older peoples’ eyes are more sensitive than younger people’s.  Younger people can cope with a complex layout, yet older people need a simpler layout so their eyes don’t have to work so hard.  It also determines what attracts and detracts from the magazine.  The layout, text, font and picture should remain the same throughout the magazine, so that it has its own identity and to make it uniform.  The uniformity of the layout, text, font and pictures are less important for young children because they aren’t concerned with how messy the magazine looks.  

Price - How affordable is the magazine? Target audience must be taken in to account because most young people don’t have jobs (cheaper magazine)  whereas most adults do (higher price).

Competition - competitor analysis.  Everything from prices, target market and readership will be put at stake in this context.  The layout, format of the magazine, content and target audience must be considered in relation to other magazines out there, the competitors will strive to make their magazine more appealing.  

 Magazines make their money from advertising, magazine covers, sponsorship and Government investment. 

 What things need to be considered when creating a new TV series?

 Content – What the concept and objective of the programme is.

Target Audience – The audience must be considered in relation to the concept of the programme: is it too sophisticated or simple for the market? Obscene, upsetting, disturbing? Influential.  Complaints to OFCOM also need to be taken in to account.

Timeslot – If it contains obscene, disturbing or imitative content, it needs to be aired post-watershed (from 21:00hrs - 05:30) any time before or after watershed is safe for young children.  Prime time (06:00 – 22:30) is used

Format – genre (drama, peiod drama, romcom, sitcom, soap opera, reality TV, children’s TV, cartoons etc.), asr (aspect ratio), story (single, serial, series)

Advertising – which channel it’ll be advertised on and will the intended market be watching the channel that the advert’s on? How will it be advertised?

Competition – What other programmes are there that are similar? Look at the way that they’re advertised and broadcast aswell as their success. 

Nielson research – media research company, looks at people’s habits and why they chose certain films.

Categorising Markets

Demographic profiling involves categorising people by factors such as:

 Geodemographics

Gender

Sexuality

Sexual orientation

Race

Ethnicity

Religion

Occupation

Education

Age

Family Size

Income

Disability

Social Class – subcategory: A: 3% senior management, royalty, PM, hereditary Lords, & B: 20% middle management, MPs, lawyers, bank managers (upper class), C1: 28% junior management, non-manual workers & C2: 21% skilled manual workers (middle class), D: 18% semi/unskilled manual workers & E: 10% unemployed, non-income, casual workers without continuous income (working class)

Psychographic profiling involves categorising people by factors such as:

 Interests

Attitudes                                    }  IOAs

Opinions

BELONGERS – traditional, conservative conformists;

EMULATORS – young people searching for an identity

EMULATOR- ACHIEVERS – successful, enjoy acquiring things

SOCIETALLY-CONSCIOUS ACHIEVERS – Inner peace and environment more important than financial success

NEEDS-DIRECTED – survivors on low incomes

How do media companies use audience segmentation?

When marketing a product towards a particular audience, it’s important to understand the audience, their background and their situation, in order to get through to them.  There are two types of ways of relating to an audience as far as categorising goes: demographic (external factors such as age, religion, ethnicity and occupation) and psychographic profiling (internal factors such as IOA’s) which would determine what products or experiences the intended market would buy in to. 

 For example, ‘The Daily Mail’ tabloid breaks down its readers in to demographics: age, social class and ITV region.  The highest figures for its readership are thanks to older people. 

Audience segmentation is particularly important to achieve success because you’ve got to know your audience and knowing them means knowing what they’ll invest in and what they won’t.  

Demographic research and psychographic research should be used conjunctively.  Your can’t simply judge your audience by their situation.  Demographic profiling is only effective if you want to find out about any possible restrictions that the individual may have, for instance the country the live in may have laws that ban a film/TV programme from being distributed over there, or depending on their occupation or education, they may not have time, money or the interest in watching a film.  Demographic profiling is effective quantative research, but it stereotypes its market. 

Pyschographic profiling is qualitative research and is more effective in terms of achieving a captive audience, as it involves research of the individual; it can be quite a sluggish process. 

It can’t be stated that one type of profiling is better than the other, as they both have their demerits.  In order to achieve the best results, demographic profiling and psychographic profiling need to be combined for the best results.