Olivia LyonsA2 MediaAdvanced PortfolioB. Market Research

Market Research

To establish the audience’s preference for the genre, content and house style, for the newspaper I am going to make, I carried out a market research task. I used a primary research method and created a short film questionnaire, using Survey Monkey, of 10 questions and asked 12 people to fill it out. I asked a range of people to fill out my questionnaire, both male and female across a range of different age groups, in order to ensure I collected a variety of results that could then influence my final design. I then compared my results in order to draw up conclusions. I designed my questionnaire with multiple choice answers as well as adding ‘other’ answer boxes where appropriate allowing the individual to answer specifically; this allowed me to collect both quantitative and qualitative data.

Questionnaire

Olivia LyonsA2 MediaAdvanced PortfolioB. Market Research

1. What is your gender?

My research shows that I collected results research from both males and females, allowing me to get an opinion from both sexes on their views and preferences in relation to newspapers. Because of this I gained an understanding of what both males and females want/expect from a newspaper; therefore I am going to design mine to appeal to both as a target audience, by using the rest of my market research as guidance.

2. What is your age?

My results show that I collected responses from a wide age range; from 18 to 64. This will therefore help me in getting an overall understanding of what people expect/want to see in a newspaper.

Olivia LyonsA2 MediaAdvanced PortfolioB. Market Research

3. Do you read newspapers?

4. IF ANSWERED YES how many newspapers, on average, do you read each week?

Olivia LyonsA2 MediaAdvanced PortfolioB. Market ResearchI included the above two questions into my research task in order to get an understanding of how many people read newspapers and how often. Although I can’t draw up specific conclusions from this to incorporate into my own work I felt it was important to get an understanding of how many people choose to consume newspapers. 25% of the people I surveyed answered that no they do not read newspapers, and the remaining 75% answered either yes or sometimes; with just under 86% reading between 1 and 3 each week.

5. Are you interested in what is happening in your local area?

The results from the research I collected show that 66.67% of the 12 people I surveyed answered that yes they are interested in what is happening in their local area; with a further 25% answering that they don’t mind. The newspaper I am going to be designing and creating is going to be a local newspaper specific to the Salford area and will therefore contain local news, facts and information. In hope of the newspaper being a success with the target audience I will use direct and straight to the point headlines that address what the article is about making the audience want to read the attached story.

Olivia LyonsA2 MediaAdvanced PortfolioB. Market Research

6. Would you read a newspaper if it was specific to one particular genre?

There are several different genres of newspaper and these include Broadsheet, Berliner and Tabloid. Broadsheets are papers with large pages such as The Times, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph. Broadsheets are often known as the ‘quality press’, being more informing and formal in the manner they convey information and news stories and they are targeted at more educated, middle to upper class readers. Tabloids are papers like The Sun, The Mirror, The Daily Mail, The Express and The Star. These newspapers are of a small format giving the news in condensed form, and are usually much more image based. The results from the research I collected don’t really show a clear answer of whether or not people would prefer/read a newspaper if it was specific to one particular genre; with over half of the people I surveyed answering ‘maybe’. In order to meet the needs of a wide target audience I am going to design my newspaper to be a combination of the two, also known as a Berliner. The stories will be informative and written in a formal style covering more serious/realistic topics rather than topics such as celebrity news. However I am also going to use a range of images to illustrate the stories and to add to the overall appearance of the newspaper. I hope that in doing this the newspaper I design and create will appeal to a wide range target audience.

Olivia LyonsA2 MediaAdvanced PortfolioB. Market Research

7. What are your interests?

I included the above question in my research task in order to get a better understanding of what most people are generally interested in. I provided 7 points of interest that could be ticked and also included an “other” answer box for people to write in their specific interests. The results I collected then influenced the story ideas for my newspaper. As I will be designing a local newspaper I also had to take into consideration that the story’s had to be realistic and relevant to the area. 58.33% said that they were interested in crime; as this is over half of the people I surveyed, from this I decided that I would include a crime related story in my newspaper. This will also conform to convention and apply to Steave Neale’s theory of repletion and difference, in relation to repetition, as I have found from carrying out several product research tasks that most newspapers feature some form of crime related story. The crime related story I write will feature on the front page of my newspaper as I feel I will be able to create a strong effective headline for this that will attract the audience’s attention. 25% of the people I surveyed showed interest in sport. Because of this I will include a sport related story in my newspaper; however this will appear on the second page. This will also add elements of iconography to my newspaper as I will relate the story to Manchester United, which is iconic of Manchester and the local area my newspaper is targeted at. A further 25% showed interest in geography and 25% selected interest in history. From this research I have decided to combine the two topic areas together to create a story about a local library in Salford. The article will feature on the second page of my newspaper and will be about the library building and the adaptations it has made over the years to meet the needs of the local community.

Olivia LyonsA2 MediaAdvanced PortfolioB. Market Research

8. Which specific type of newspaper would you be more inclined to read?

This question relates to question 6 that asks the audience if they would be more likely to read a newspaper if it was specific to one genre. From the results collected from both question six and this question I have decided that In order to meet the needs of a wide target audience I am going to design my newspaper to be a combination of both a tabloid and a broadsheet newspaper, also known as a Berliner. The stories will be informative and written in a formal style covering more serious/realistic topics rather than topics such as celebrity news (broadsheet). However I am also going to use a range of images to illustrate the stories and to add to the overall appearance of the newspaper (tabloid). I hope that in doing this the newspaper I design and create will appeal to a wide range target audience.

9. Would the house style/layout/colours/use of images persuade you to buy a certain newspaper?

Olivia LyonsA2 MediaAdvanced PortfolioB. Market ResearchI asked this question in order to get an understanding of what people want to see in a newspaper in relation to the style, layout, colours and use of images and whether or not this would persuade them in to buying a particular newspaper. The results from the research I collected show that 41.67% answered that yes this would persuade them to buy a certain newspaper and 50% answered maybe. As this is the majority of people I surveyed it highlighted to me the importance of these design elements. When designing my newspaper I will use a conventional layout with the masthead at the top of the page on the front cover, the headlines in bold and the text in columns. I will use a consistent house style across the two pages I will be designing, sticking to the same colour schemes and using the same fonts. I will ensure the images I take are of good quality and are strong images that not only relate to the stories but that appeal to the audience.

10. How much would you be willing to pay for a newspaper?

From looking at the data from the research I collected I think that £1.00 would be a suitable price for my newspaper if I was going to distribute and sell it. I believe this is a suitable price as it would then mean that each of the people I surveyed would be willing to pay that price and therefore buy it.