Research: Audiences

Audiences are groups of individuals that may read or consume what the media feeds them, this could either be TV, magazines and newspapers, and radio. It is very important to know about audiences as it is considered that without an audience, the media will not flourish, and in order for the messages to be spread or make profit from their products, an audience is required to consume it, thus allowing the media companies to know and understand what keeps audiences attracted and interested. Having knowledge of audience interests and expectations can help in developing and adapting products to meet this. 

How might some audiences be categorised?

Audiences may be categorised due to various range of factors which include age, gender, social class, income status and hobbies. Audiences should generally be categorised as they may not all agree on the same thing, if this was the way then media companies would be finding it difficult to keep the audience stable and happy. Therefore because of the vast contrast between audience interests, what they give off and sell will defer and be different, with the intention of reaching out to different audiences. Examples of this will be an artist making a music video with the expectations and interests of their target audience in mind. Martin Solveig for example, makes very niche, unusual videos for his music as house is considered to be quite appealing to a niche audience but also conform to the mainstream, drawing in the masses more than anything.  

Audience Categories

With audiences, they are always and will always be separated to ensure that products have an intentional target, making it easier to conform to needs and expectations, thus increasing their chances of success. You often get the masses and then the bourgeoisie, yet it is more defined than that as the masses have subgroups within the culture, making it easier to direct their products to an audience based on the information they have. 

Advantages and Disadvantages 

There will always be a few upsides and downsides to everything within the media, this included. Categorising audiences will always have a lasting effect, assuming companies identify these things and find ways around, it is still knowledgeable to know.

Advantages

With categorising an audience, it will make it much easier to have a target audience.

It allows for the interests of the consumer to be taken and looked at, rather than being ignored and frowned upon.

It gives the opportunity to use this information as a way to encourage companies to advertise you.
The sort of products your audience can look at and afford, based on their income, can be identified easier.


Disadvantages

Categorising audiences doesn't consider that people are different. For example, if two individuals have a similar or identical profession, it may not necessarily mean they will share the same interests. 

It doesn't consider an individuals interests, only the income and status of the individual

Stereotyping individuals and subgroups can lead to false assumptions

Different genres have different audiences

Rock - Males, aged 26-45 mainly of white ethnicity, working class status, this may include those who are unemployed, students, unskilled and semi-skilled workers. Rock music themes may be linked similarly to those of Pop and R&B, yet leaning more on the latter. Struggles, pain, disappointment, life, it may not be anti-happiness, but it doesn't necessarily generate joy. There are different subgroups of rock, but this main one accepts all these themes and attempts to manifest and turn them into topics to be celebrated in terms of having a positive outlook.

Pop - Females, aged 15-25, mainly of white ethnic background, working class status, this also may include those who are unemployed, students, unskilled and semi-skilled workers. With pop, you have artists like Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber. These artists are the type to have a fan club, leading to a major group of individuals to go home and listen and relate their songs to their real-life scenarios. This makes it easier for, let's say Bieber, to make a song about his girlfriend not saying no, yet not saying yes, leading to young girls thinking, "Oh, I've felt like this before, let me listen to it more".

R&B - Females, aged 18-29, mainly of black ethnic background, working class status, this also may include those who are unemployed, students, unskilled and semi-skilled workers. The themes behind R&B are often about sex, financial problems, relationships and life amongst several others, this makes it more likely for a young black woman to relate to these struggles more than a young white woman, based purely on what the media feeds to society.

Hip-Hop - Males, aged 16-30, majorly of black ethnic background, working class status, this may also include those who are unemployed, semi-skilled manual workers and skilled workers. At concerts of artists belonging to this genres, it is common for the audience to be as hyped and energetic as the performer, this is what hip-hop artists aim for, further increasing their knowledge on who?, as a target audience.

Classical - Males and Females, aged 50-85, mainly of white ethnic background, upper class status, this may include those of a high managerial, administrative or professional profession within the job industry. Classical concerts often involve the crowd listening patiently as the singer or Maestro takes control, drawing the audience in rather them singing back.

Conclusion
With the knowledge i have gathered from this, I can say that knowing the target audience for your media product will help better the project, leading to more ideas and increasing the chance of the final media product to be successful. With our artist being quite young, with the song also being aimed at quite a young age, we can generate that we will want to make our target audience's age, range from about 16-24. This may come from the idea that males and females within this age group, tend to be excited by the high-adrenaline music that is mainstream today, the music that fuses different genres together yet still finds a way to stay in one genre.