Alan Smith

Quantitative Audience Research:

What is it? Quantitative Research uses numbers to collect data of basic

information from a large amount of people to identify how big the audience is for a

certain product.

Who does it? There are two major companies when looking at the Print industry,

NRS and ABC. The NRS or The National Readership Survey provides an

estimation on the amount of readership figures the print media industry receives

and more so magazines and newspapers. ABC or the Audit Bureau of Circulations

was designed to look at the standard of a particular business and they also

produce figures on audience numbers for both print and digital formats.

PB Media industries can use quantitative

research by using the NRS to find out

roughly how many copies they would sell if

they were to do it. Also asking closed

questions to the people of York college is

advised as it can get a lot of reliable

feedback on what could be included to the

magazine.

Advantages of using this method are that it

is a lot quicker method of gathering

information, thus meaning more data can

be collected.

Disadvantages are that the data collected

may not be accurate and that It might not

give you a good understanding on what

people thought about the subject.

Qualitative Audience Research

What is it? Qualitative is a lot more precise than Quantitative research as this is designed to

look at who that person you are targeting is and what they look like. This also looks at where

their location is and how they spend their money. To gather the information open questions

are used. Open questions are that of which ask for an answer with room for any reply.

What methods are there? There can be many methods behind getting the information such

as the profile of the target audience, these include Focus groups, questionnaires and face to

face interviews.

PB Media industries can use focus groups when looking at qualitative research

as this is the best way to use the target audience to help them. They could use

other types such as questionnaires to small proportions of the college as it would

take time but worth participating in to gather a much more accurate source of

feedback.

Advantages of Qualitative methods are that the responses are very detailed and

relating to the actual question. The answers are also encouraging openness and

wanting people to expand their thoughts.

Disadvantages are that usually few people are asked as it takes time. The

results also depends on the skill set of the person asking to questions such as

interviews and questionnaires.

Socio-economic status:

What does this mean? This means the social position of a person or particular family of that

target audience. The NRS social grades were developed by The National Readership survey

to identify the class of certain families targeted. To help identify which category the families

would fit into, 3 main parts of Income, Education and occupation are assessed.

What can it tell you about an audience? This can tell you a lot about the audience as not only

does this allow you to see who they actually are, this allows you to see their habits and what

they are likely to spend their disposable income on.

Advantages of the social grades are that you can categorize people into certain class and

from this you can target a particular category when having a product.

Disadvantages are that it may not be an accurate way of measuring people. For example if

you have a teacher on £18,000 a year you could put them in two parts of the social grading.

They should be grade B however the money they receive is equal to that of an skilled manual

worker.

Psychographics:

What does this mean? This looks at the way people see themselves, It is the study

of personality, values, attitudes and interests of the targeted audience. It is thought

to be said that there are 7 main categories that can describe a person.

What can it tell you about an audience? From this you can see that the categories

can help you when finding out who you are targeting and find an appropriate target

audience.

Advantages of knowing the 7 categories are that you can clearly identify a target

audience from one of the types and from this it can be easier and quicker when

advertising to product.

Disadvantages of this is that it is clearly stereotypical and not everyone will follow

these patterns, Basing a product around these may result in failure as it is not

guaranteed to appeal to everyone.

Belonger- These are working men and women who obey the laws and have the

biggest segment of society.

Achiever- These are competitive, goal oriented people who

always seek more.

Emulator- (Or wannabe)These are the people who pretend they

are rich and successful however they really are not.

Socially conscious type A & B- These are people who take

pride in helping the environment and anti- materialistic view

towards the planet.

Balanced/ Totally integrated- These are often a balance between the Achiever and

Socially conscious as they seek money and power, however wish to do something

good with the money such as helping third world countries.

Needs Driven- These are people such as impulse buyers who shop for late deals

and buy off shopping channels. These rush into everything if they can see a

‘bargain’

Don’t get confused between the

two!

Geodemographics:

What does this mean? This is the idea of classifying Neighbourhoods and a study on where

people live.

What can it tell you about an audience? This can tell you that the audience is part of a certain

area where they all have similar if not the same income and therefore finding out about one

person or family and their interests this can be used for the rest of that area.

PB Media could use this type of classification when looking at their magazine as they could

narrow the target audience even more by looking at which of the students have rich parents with

disposable income to spend magazines such PB Media.

Advantages are that you can save time on asking everyone in your target audience as 1 person

or street may represent the majority of them the product is aimed at.

Disadvantages are that again this can be seen as Stereotypical and not always the case when

looking at the targeted demographic.

Age:

What does this mean? All Media products target a specific age group, this is

because targeting people from the same age group would give you a high chance

of them sharing likes and dislikes.

What can it tell you about an audience? This can tell you that the audience you

target has to be right as they ultimately are buying the product and advertising to

the wrong segment of people could result in lack of sales.

Advantages of targeting to one age group is that they have the same interests

meaning the product has a better chance of success, also having a certain type of

age group can make the magazine for example a unique one.

Disadvantages of using age to distinguish the targeted demographic can be that

should you choose to advertise wrong that category the product will fail as other

age groups will not be interested.

Gender:

What does this mean? This means that it is an easy way to classify your product to a certain

person as there are only two categories.

What can it tell you about an audience? It can tell you that women and men often have

different interests and because of that the magazines tend to push the other gender out

completely when advertising

Advantages of targeting a particular gender is that it can make a lot of sales from that

audience as well as in some cases from the gender it was intended to not aim for. It can be

seen as a very clever way of marketing. For example the Yorkie Chocolate bar, not for girls.

This makes the other gender want to buy it.

Disadvantages of targeting a certain gender is that again if poorly advertised and research

not done well it could mean that the demographic will not want the product as it will not

appeal to them, meaning that the segment in the market targeted will not consume the

product.

Mainstream:

What does this mean? Products aimed at a popular large market that many people will

notice. In relation to Print media, mainstream is seen as popular magazines and newspapers

that people read such as Men’s health and Daily Mail.

What can it tell you about an audience? This can tell you that the audience is clearly following

the majority and should PB Media use recent topics in the media then they may have a

chance of selling copies.

Advantages are that a lot of the market is available to aim the product at and can target more

people. Also using aspects popular to the target audience will make them want to buy the

product. For example using a recent song in the charts on a advert for your product or

magazine.

Disadvantages are that with so many competitors in the market it is hard to make your

product stand out from the rest meaning you may be targeting a big market however with so

many other products the share of the market may be very little.

Niche:

What does this mean? A niche market is that of a small segment in the market which is targeted

to a specific product.

What can it tell you about an audience? It can tell you that the audience is relatively small

however has to potential to become large.

If PB Media consider making their magazine a Niche then it would be vital that they choose an

area that has not be done and cannot be seen as copying other magazines around.

Advantages are that if you can find a USP or unique selling point you can target that small

segment but have the chance to expand and become into a bigger business.

Disadvantages are that people may not see the product if not advertised well the small targeted

people may not see the product.