Newspaper Research: Target Audience Analysis
What is a target audience?
A target audience consists of individuals, groups or communities who influence
the intended 'target' of a media. Newspapers attempt to appeal to certain
target audiences by fulfilling the specific needs and interests of a target
audience within its news stories, political bias etc.
Who are the target audience of Newspapers?
The target audience of a newspaper varies based on a number of different
factors. The best way to identify the target audience of a newspaper is to use
the technique 'RIVALING' which stands
for Representation, Institution, Values, Audience, Language, Ideology, Narrativ
e and Genre.
Representation - is the denotation of people, places and events to convey
hidden connotations in newspapers. It is how the audience is represented to
themselves within a newspaper by expressing their interests, needs and points
of view.
Institution - A media institution is a large group of people who work for the
same company to produce various platforms of media. Newspaper institutions
are usually responsible for the production, publishing and distribution of a
newspaper. Examples of famous media institutions include Apple, Sony, Nike,
Disney etc.
Values - The values of a newspaper are constructed by the interests of its
target audience. The quality, structure and content of a newspaper are
adapted to the needs of the target audience.
Audience - An audience is the most vital aspect that ultimately decides
the successfulness and survival of a newspaper. There is a powerful bond
between a newspaper and its readers and without that target audience, a
newspaper would have no market to appeal to.
Language - The language of a newspaper is designed upon the demographics of
its target audience. Semiotics is also a convention that describes how a
newspaper is constructed through the careful use of signs, codes and symbols.
Ideology - is a set of aims, beliefs or morals a newspaper and audience share.
Modern-day newspaper ideologies focus particularly on political influences
because in recent years, politics has become more and more popular amongst
a much wider audience demographic.
Narrative - is how a newspaper can be read as a text in a particular format. Has
the newspaper purposefully reported its news in a way that supports the
interests of the target audience? Does the newspaper begin with 'hard' news
or soft news?
Genre - describes the classification of a newspaper/story. For example, my
newspaper can be classified as a local tabloid newspaper and my lead story can
be classified as a story regarding teenage health.
Who are the target audience for your researched newspaper
samples?
As part of my research into audience analysis and newspaper conventions, I
decided to take front and inside page samples from some of Britain's most
popular local newspapers. The newspapers I studied were The
Metro, Bromley Times, London Lite & the News Shopper.
London Lite
The target audience of the London Lite was primarily aimed at women under
the age of 35. The reasons to support my judgement included the frequent use
of bright colours and images of female icons along with news topics which
covered fashion, beauty, health, fitness and celebrity gossip.
The Metro
The target audience of The Metro was directed at people commuting to and
from London. It seems the majority of readers are male and their news
interests span from current affairs, travel, weather, sport and politics
originating from the local communities of London.
Bromley Times
The target audience of the Bromley Times is very similar to the target audience
of the News Shopper. The newspaper is designed to represent news from
within the local community of Bromley, however unlike the News Shopper,
the Bromley Times incorporates news report on stories outside of
the Bromley community. The interests of the target audience mainly consist of
national sport news and local 'hard' news.
News Shopper
The target audience of the News Shopper is directed at older aged men and
women from within the local community. The newspaper rarely reports on
news outside of the local community, but instead decides to focus on school
fetes, councils and charity events.
Who are the target audience for your newspaper?
In order to identify the target audience for my newspaper, I must first create a
'demographic profile' by asking the following questions.
What is the likely age of the target audience?
What is the likely gender of the target audience?
What is the likely ethnicity of the target audience?
What is the likely educational background of the target audience?
What is the likely social class of the target audience?
What is the likely economic status of the target audience?
What is the likely location of your target audience and will this affect the
accessibility of your media product?
The demographics of my target audience:
Although the use of colour suggests masculinity and the images on the
front and inside page of my newspaper represent men, the content of
my news stories can relate to all teenagers of either sex within the local
community.
The age group of my target audience is between 13-19 because my
newspaper is designed to relate with the common needs and interests of
teenagers.
My newspaper does not target particular ethnic groups. Whilst I
understand I have only represented white males on the front and inside
pages of my newspaper, it is strictly designed to appeal to all teenagers
of any ethnic background within the local community.
I could assume that based on the typical age group of my target
audience, the vast majority will have commitments to either compulsory
or voluntary education at secondary school, college or university.
The most likely economic status of my target audience is a 'student'.
However, a proportion of my target audience may have left secondary
school and entered full time employment so it is important to consider
the economic status of all teenagers within the local community. I also
believe it is important to distribute my newspaper for free because the
majority of modern-day teenagers do not have significant financial
incomes. This could be due to university/college costs, a part time job
with minimum pay or they may simply be too young for employment.
My newspaper applies to social classes A, B, C1, C2 or D.
It is important to consider the location of my target audience as my
newspaper will consist predominantly of local news. Therefore it will not
be distributed outside of the local community because the news stories
will only be relevant to my target audience within the surrounding
community.
Modern-day audiences are often more complex and difficult to categorise.
Therefore, in order to categorise and gain a greater understanding of a target
audience, I can use a technique originally developed by the market research
and advertising industry called the 'VALS system'. The values system considers
factors concerning attitudes, lifestyles and values of an audience.
The psychographics of my target audience:
Values:
ACTUALISERS: Dynamic people for whom image and appeal is important as an
expression of individuality. This enforces the stereotypical evaluation of
teenagers. Rebellious, ever-changing personalities who obsess over their image
as a way of demanding respect and recognition from their peers.
EXPERIENCERS: Young, impulsive and highly-strung individuals who are
determined to live in the moment. They spend large amounts of money on
desired but not essential products/services such as clothing, DVD's, CD's, fast
food etc.
STRIVERS: Usually unsure and insecure of themselves and have low financial
incomes. They continuously strive for approval from others around them by
obtaining items of extremely high value, most of which they cannot afford.
Attitudes:
TRENDIES: Those who crave admiration from their peers.
EGOISTS: Those who personify themselves through egotistic attitudes.
REBELS: Those who go against the rulings of society and wish to re-design the
world in their image.
GROUPIES: Desperately seek acceptance and nothing else.
COWBOYS: Individuals who want easy money with minimal effort.
DROP-OUTS: Reject any kind of commitments.
Lifestyles:
MAINSTREAMERS: Follow the 'status quo'. Do not want to stand out from the
crowd.
INDIVIDUALISTS: Very independent individuals who make efforts to separate
themselves from the crowd.
How will you measure the success of your product's appeal to its
target audience?
I will assess the impact my newspaper has on its target audience by uploading
images of my front and second page onto my ‘facebook’ account. The reason
so that anyone can provide feedback on what they think is good or what they
think needs changing. The comments are vital to the success of my newspaper
and all comments will be considered thoroughly.
