Audience research

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research measures the amount of people who have viewed a particular subject. For example box office figures, websites, television ratings and sales. Quantitative research presents the demographics of sales as numbers, percentages and fractions. This is done so that publishers are able to see demographics. From this they will be able to change what they publish to suit the audience that is purchasing their magazines, newspapers and more. Publishers are able to collect this information from the NRS (National Readership Survey). Other companies such as ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulations) are used as the industry body for the media. The main focus of ABC is to produce figures on audience numbers surrounding print and digital formats.

Advantages and disadvantages

There are many different advantages and disadvantages to quantitative research.Advantages:• Quantitative research allows for the publishers to measure and analyze in a very

simple and effective method. The publisher will be more objective about the findings of the research. Quantitative research can be used to find hypotheses and precise information because of its ability to measure data using statistics.

Disadvantages:• Quantitative research does not gain its information and describe the meanings for

it as qualitative research does. Another disadvantage would be that a larger population of people must be studied to gain the information needed.

Qualitative ResearchQualitative research allows the media publisher to find out the exact category of people who are purchasing their product. It presents the information of the person and everything about them including details upon what they like and where they live. This is done through companies such as YouGov ( https://yougov.co.uk/profileslite#/ ). There are many different ways of collecting qualitative audience information such as viewing a certain focus group. A focus group is a group of people who are asked about their opinions and attitudes towards any type of media, advertisement or product. Another useful method of collecting this data would be through questionnaire surveys. This could be done both online and within print giving a wider range of information. The final method would be to collect information through ace to face interviews with people. This would give a more accurate reading.

Advantages and disadvantages Qualitative research has many advantages and disadvantages.Advantages:• Qualitative research is useful in helping the publisher during the early stages of

research. It will help the publisher to exactly identify what the products audience is/will be. This will allow for the publisher to more freedom when creating the product. Another advantage is that the data gathered is very detailed in presenting every thing the publisher would need to know about the audience of the product. They would be able to find out the social class, gender, age and even hobbies/interests.

Disadvantages:• This method of research is heavily dependent on the people interviewed. The

quantity of data makes analysis very time consuming. The publisher cannot find out if the people interviewed have ever used a similar product to the one they are creating.

AudienceAn audience is essentially the people that will be viewing/purchasing your product. An audience is important in allowing your product to gain profit. Without an audience there would essentially be no media. Media publishers would want to find out about the audience purchasing their product so that they can match the criteria for the audience. For example they would use companies such as ABC and NRS to find statistics upon the criteria of audience. There is a wide variety of categories the audience is placed into. These are age, gender and social economic status (social class). They would look deeply into each of these categories and ensure that their product is adapted to the audience viewing their product. This would be done to allow for more sales and a larger profit margin.

AgeAge is very important when classifying audiences. Finding out your audiences age range is a very simple yet effective technique that helps media publishers to adjust their product to the estimated age ranges suitability. The different age groups can be identified and separated into different categories, for example, people in their 20’s are more likely to live at home or pay rent than people in their 30’s. It is important for media publishers classify their audiences ages. This will allow for more profit to be made. Certain company's (like Cameo UK) can be used to identify your audiences age, social class and much more. Using this method of research you will be able to identify the hobbies, interests and social class. This will allow for the publishers to ensure that the product matches the target age range.

GenderFinding out your audiences gender will help media publishers to ensure that their product appeals to them. From a young age children's products are categorized into different genders, for example, kids toys for boys will be stereotypically coloured blue and include images of racing cars. Whereas girls toys will be coloured pink and have images of fairy's and flowers on the product. Products that are aimed towards one gender will often to avoid the other gender entirely. This may lead to a loss in sales as the product will only be gaining sales from one gender. Ensuring that your product is gender neutral will avoid this. Finding out your audiences gender can be done through methods such as qualitative research (using a focus group and or using companies such as YouGov to gain a rough estimate of the general age, gender and more).

Socio-economic

Socio-economicSocio-economics show the economic and social position of an individual depending on their income, education and occupation. The NRS (national readership survey) use different categories to show the readers of magazines and newspapers around the UK. This can be used in consideration of your product, usually, the higher the economic status the higher the price can be. This will also mean that your product will need to be published at a higher standard of English and will need a different style and tone compared to other other product aimed at lower class audiences (working class). This will make your product appeal more to people of a higher socio-economic status and will allow for you to place a higher price upon your product.

psychographicsPsychographics studies different categories such as personality, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles. Unlike other methods of gathering information, psychographics usually gain results through the method of questionnaires. Using this method of research the publisher is able to find out what the audience likes about your product, this can then be used to alter the product to keep the audience happy. Psychographics differ to demographics as psychographics provide a more specific type of data, providing you with in detail information about the type of person purchasing your product.

Geodemographics• This method bases information upon people living

within the same area (people living in the same postcode will have similar lifestyles). This will also provide information upon the class of the people in the area, i.e. young professionals, retired or young families. This helps media advertisers/publishers to base their product to the people living within the areas where the product has been sold the most. This method is mainly based for advertisers instead of media producers as geodemographics provide more use in sending direct mail and similar advertising methods.