Critical Responses

By Shania Carter and Abygail Jones

Quantitative ResearchDefining how big the audience is for a product.

NRS and ABC

A continuous survey.

Overview of the NRS:

Asks about online behaviour/ personal information.

Short interviews at your own home.

Advantages:Get to find out how large your audience is.Can adapt when audience changes

Disadvantages:A large amount of people might not take in the surveyReceiving bad comments from a lot of people

How could PB Media use this?

Online Behaviour

FacebookTwitterYoutubeTumblr

Qualitative Research• Used to find out requirements,

interests and needs of audience members such as :

• Likes• Dislikes• Salaries/Income• Addresses

Information is collected using different methods

Advantages?• From face-to-face interviews the

interviewer receives a more personal and true statement.

• Questionnaires are quick and easy.

Disadvantages?• People could lie in their answers.• People might not like to be approached

for face-to-face interviews.

PB Media could use this in a very effective way

Can ask questions to readers

Favourite Magazine

Kerrang!Classic RockOK!Radio Times

Audience ProfilesAudience profiles are significant as they give you information such as:

Age

Gender

Class etc.

Magazines such as Q use audience profiles to sell advertising space

Companies who appeal to similar audience profiles often approach others.

Advantages:Easier to find out the relevant information about the audience

Disadvantages:Some people don’t pay attention to the figuresThe company can lie

Socio-Economic Status (SES)This is measuring the social position of an

individual or a family.Focuses on 3 categories:• Income• Education• Occupation

Advantages?• Makes it easier for production companies

to advertise• Quicker market research

Disadvantages?• There might be a range of classes in one

area • The magazine won’t appeal to everyone

PB Media could use this quite effectively:

They could ask questions to find out what class they are in

Readers = 100

EmployedUnemployedIn EducationOther

NRS Social GradesThe NRS use 6 categories:These are marked down as grades, starting from A and finishing at E.Grade – A – Upper Middle Class (4%)Grade – B – Middle Class (23%)Grade – C1 – Lower Middle Class (29%)Grade – C2 – Skilled Working Class (21%)Grade – D – Working Class (15%)Grade – E – Lower Level of Subsistence (8%)Also, according to the NRS only 2% of the UK is respectively upper class, whilst the rest of the population is grouped in to ABC1 and C2DE.The NRS social grades were developed 50 years ago and are now widespread across the UK.

NRS Social Grades

• Developed by the NRS to distinguish the differences between readers using social classes.

• Information received from this is then used for market research.

• Overall status of a household depends on the occupation of the head of the household.

• The population is separated in to two main social groups, one including: Upper Middle Class, Middle Class and Lower Middle Class. The other group includes: Skilled Working Class, Working Class and Unemployed.

Lifestyle or PsychographicsThere are 7 different types of categories for Psychographics:•Belonger •Achiever •Emulator/Wanna be •Socially Conscious Type A •Socially Conscious Type B•Balanced/Totally Integrated •Needs Driven

Advantages?•Better knowledge of the audience•Know how to keep them happy

Disadvantages?•There are a lot of other ways for this knowledge to be found•It will take a while to receive all the data

PB Media could use this to:•Give them a better understanding of the audience•Make it easier to generate ideas for advertisements or context

This information can then be put in to a graph.

GeodemographicsCollects information from the national census • collect knowledge in certain

neighbourhoods and compare how similar some households are to others.

• Important information is obtained such as: the amount a household earns, their class etc.

• Enables advertising to the correct audience

• Also used to direct mail to certain addresses.

• Looks at retired couples, young families and young adults.

Neighborhood

PensionersYoung Fam-iliesYoung Adults

Age• Extremely important to any media

product.

• There is always a target age

• Can receive this through questionnaires, online profiles etc.

Advantages?• It’s easy to create products that appeal to

a wide variety of the target audience• It’s easier to know what to incorporate in

to the text

Disadvantages?• It might take a while to get all the data• Some ideas may not appeal to the

targeted audience

•PB Media could use this to collect data

•The data can be presented in a graph to help the company develop new designs and ideas.

•Ask the obvious questions to get the age of the readers

Females Males05

1015202530354045

0 to 1011 to 2021 to 3031 - 4040+

Gender• There are two main types of gender structures

•Easier to appeal to one gender specific.

•Different genders demand different things

PB Media could use this information to help

Advantages: • Easier to write about one specific

gender.

• Women’s and Men’s opinions are different.

Disadvantages:• Some women like men’s sport

• Some magazines can be sexist e.g. making fun of women or men.

Mainstream•Mainstream audiences tend to be larger

•Magazines/newspapers to do with:•Chart Music

•Blockbuster Films

•Majority all like the same things

Advantages• Easier to appeal to the

majority of the public.

• Easier to find out more about your audience

Disadvantages• Gets harder to write about the

same things

• Everyone is the same

Males Females0123456

PopCountryRockReggaeR&B

Niche• Smaller groups with more specific needs

• They only appeal to certain people that want specific thing from magazines

Advantages?• If it appeals to a majority of the selected

target audience

• As long as the context remains interesting consumers will continue to buy it on a regular basis

Disadvantages?• More specific demands

• Not as many readers

PB Media can use this information

Collected information could be put it in to a graph or chart to show their findings

Males Females0

5

10

15

20

25

Adventure TimeOK!Hello!Doctor Who