UNIT 6 Assignment 2: Media Proudcers & Their Audiences

Scenario: You have started working in the marketing team at a local magazine company.  Before you can begin to look at how best to market your product to an audience, you need to demonstrate an understanding of how media producers create their products to appeal to specific audiences.

TASK

The assignment will take the form of written report, separated into two sections. Each section should clearly and comprehensively explain the sub-headed areas, supporting a full exploration of how media producers define audiences.  Where possible, clear examples should be provided to support/illustrate material, and subject terminology should be used consistently and accurately.

Section 1 - Analysis how media text communicates with their audience

• Pick two magazine covers of your choice that are designed for different audience demographics.
• Deconstruct and analyse the covers, clearly explaining how they are utilising specific techniques in order to appeal to their audiences.
• You must provide clear images of each resource in your report.
• You must use subject terminology consistently and correctly

Section 2 - How do media producers define their audience?

• Clearly explain/show you understand the ways that media producers can find out information about their audiences
• Explain the following, and try where possible to provide examples of this from a media area:

• Focus groups
• Audience panels
• Reviews
• Complaints

• Design a survey in surveymonkey with a selection of questions relating to one of your two magazine covers from section one.
• Your aim is to find out if people interpreted the cover/responded to it in the same way you did.  Once you have your results evaluate them in order to draw your conclusions.

Include some visual material when appropriate (e.g. images that highlight points made about visual components, referenced within the body of the text).

---

Section 1 - How Media Text Communicate to Audience

The following will cover two seperate magazine covers as part of a case study analyzing how media text communicates to their audiences.

Case Study 1

The following magazine cover is from Vogue.

Vogue is a high-end fashion and lifestyle magazine, covering numerous topics such as fashion, beauty, culture, living etc. With this specific cover, you can very much tell the genre due to the taglines such as “10 style resolutions” and “Destination BEAUTY”, as they relate to appearance and fashion, connoting that this magazine is indeed aimed towards a female audience. This is reinforced further by the fact that Taylor Swift makes the cover, who has become somewhat of a feminist icon in recent years, as well as often being among the talk when it comes to attractive celebrity females. The pug, “TAYLOR REMADE” is an indication that Swift herself has read Vogue and took fashion and beauty tips, and it tells the target audience that if even a woman like her can be “remade”, then perhaps others can be do and follow her steps. The strapline, “Fashion’s new energy” stands out, and indicates a renaissance to come for the fashion world, as the tag seems to indicate that it has gained second wind, and so maybe the subscribers to the magazine should stay tuned. The colours are a blend; bold and dark greys, red and white. Our cover star stands front and centre, staring at the reader with a serious yet expressionless look, sort of like what you would see when models make their way down the catwalks. A secondary lead, “TOM FORD’S L.A. LIFE” also acts as a sort of pull in, for those interested in the American fashion designer’s lifestyle.

Case Study 2

The following magazine cover is from Rolling Stone.

Rolling Stone magazine is an American biweekly magazine that focuses on popular culture, and for the most part, music. This particular edition covers the 50 greatest hip-hop songs of all time, with famous rapper Tupac playing cover star. Tupac has long been dead since this edition’s debut, but he remains an iconic artist who is generally associated with critically acclaimed music. Even more casual or mainstream audiences know who Tupac is from various pop culture references, even if they have never heard one of his songs. This makes the choice for cover star all the more better, as he serves as a recognisable face for the hip-hop genre, and with him as the cover star, you are expecting to see a good list of the 50 greatest hip-hop songs of all time. The colour scheme is a mostly bold black and white texture with shades of yellow and red. The masthead is positioned behind the cover star and maintains the iconic red colour with white outline. The Rolling Stone title is easily recognizable because of this, and thus it can be sacrificed in the background in favor of the cover star taken the foreground. The pug, “50 GREATEST HIP-HOP SONGS OF ALL TIME”, jumps out at the viewer’s eyes as the predominate text. This acts as the main pull for the reader, as it wants to attract a target audience more orientated towards hip-hop fans. The African-American icon, combined with the roots related to hip-hop, may help draw in a certain range of demographics, such as minorities of black people and/or African-Americans. Tupac has been chronicled as such.

Section 2 - How Media Producers Define Audience

This section shall explain the ways that media producers can find out information about their audiences.

A target audience is a particular group at which a product such as a film or advertisement is aimed. Meanwhile a demographic is relating to structure of populations or a particular sector of the population. 'Audience' is a key concept throughout media studies, because all media texts are produced with an audience in mind. A target audience can be broken down into specific demographics, with the following being applied to obtain either qualitative or quantitative research:

• Age
• Gender
• Interests/Hobbies
• Religion
• Ethnicity
• Proximity
• Race
• Social Class
• Family

All these factors can come into play to help narrow down the individual and can be used to narrow down your audience. It enables market researchers and media experts to come to a conclusion as to what they want to proceed on doing.

In media terms the audience is any group of people who receive or consume a media text. They receive the text via media carriers such as newspapers or magazine, as well as TV, film, radio, internet etc. Audience is a part of the media equation - a product is produced and an audience receives it. TV producers need an audience for their programs, so they can finance them and make more that the audience likes. Advertisers need an audience who will see or hear their adverts and then buy their products.

A media text is planned with a particular audience in mind. They must think of the age, gender and what their interests of their target audience is. The TV audience varies throughout day and night, and both TV and radio broadcast 24/7. How do we know who is listening or watching at any one time? This is where audience research becomes important. A media producer must know who the next potential audience is, and know as much about them as possible.

Different media texts would include:

• Books
• TV
• Film
• Posters/Billboards
• Adverts
• Promos/Trailers
• Magazines/Newspapers
• Radio
• Games

Focus Groups

• A form of qualitative research consisting of interviews in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging.
• Questions are asked in an interactive group setting where participants are free to talk with other group members.
• During this process, the researcher either takes notes or records the vital points he or she is getting from the group.

Audience Panels

• Producers receive feedback from an audience on a product that they have either used/seen on a television/online or even heard on the radio.
• Generally a small group will be picked out and asked to view a new media product - they are then asked to provide feedback and comment on the actual product itself.
• This is a very useful way to complete primary research as it provides first hand information on the product.

Reviews

• Producers will look at reviews for their products to assess the successes/failures of their formula.
• They will use this to focus on the areas that have worked well, and to look for areas to improve. Reviews may be professional (e.g. film critics), fan based (fan review sites/blogs).
• This also links in with complaints – companies may have a complaints department or opportunities for customers to offer feedback.

Complaints

• Much like how a product is reviewed, they can often come under criticism and/or scrutiny.
• Complaints can offer constructive criticism of a product and help improve upon it, for the producers to deliver better on next time offer.
• However, complaints can but much unlike reviews and instead be non-constructive and plainly complainant, and can affect a producer’s perception on their audience, thinking they don’t know what is good for them.