A2 Media Studies | Audience Research

I will be researching audiences of media texts such as the demographic and social classes of people who view media texts and I will also be looking at what kind of audience would want to watch the kind of documentary me and Tom are going to make, which is loosely based on education documentaries promoted and aired by Channel 4.

Demographic profiling

Demographic profiling can be defined by age, gender, class, geographical areas, religion and economic status. There are different social classes which can group types of audiences too, these social classes consist of different grades which are A, B, C1, C2, D and E, they range from upper middle classed people who are very high in the working industry to people who are unemployed (e.g. pensioners, teenagers) and can be defined as the lowest graded workers.

Lifematrix segmentation

The lifematrix segmentation defines a range of audience groups which links to different types of demographics too, some of the lifematrix segments consist of the following:

• Tribe Wired - Digital, free-spirited and creative young singles.
• Fun/Atics - Aspirational, fun-seeking and active young people (kids, teenagers and young adults).
• Struggled Singles - People with high aspirations and a low economic status.
• Settled elders - Older people, sedentary lifestyles (meaning that they're not too active and can be quite settled down)

Audience research - Channel 4

Linking towards the target audience of Channel 4's education documentaries (e.g. Educating Essex, Educating Cardiff, Educating Yorkshire etc.), I believe that the demographic of such documentaries fall along the classes of C1, C2 and D. These social classes range from semi-skilled workers to intermediate or professional workers in the working industry and they are more likely view the said media text because they've had working experience either currently or previously, can relate to the documentary (e.g. other teachers, parents and students - who would have had little work experience around their age) and are more likely to be viewing these documentaries and aren't too high up in the working industry either. For people in the A and E social classes, the A social class are more likely to be watching something which is more professional whilst the E social class is less likely to have access to television unless they are living with other people paying taxes.

Summary

Based on what I have found out about audiences, I have been able to consider what kind of demographic profile/social class is more likely to view the documentary that me and Tom are going to make, I believe that the audience for the documentary would be in range of C1, C2 and D, it's not likely that any higher social classed worker would view the documentary nor would a lower social classed worker as they either may not be able to due to a lack of income or they would want to view something that is more educational and likely more professional.