Audience Classification

OCR AS Media Studies

By Heather Larkin

Audience Research – Qualitative & Quantitative

• Research of an audience is a key part of any media company's work. They need to find out who would be interested in their product and do this by carrying out questionnaires, focus groups, and pre-film screenings. There are two types of research, qualitative and quantitative:

• Qualitative research methods include individual interviews and observations. Usually a small sample size is used and the subjects are specially selected based on similar interests, age, gender etc.

• Quantitative research is more structural than qualitative, methods include surveys. It is usually a large sample size which produces a set of hard facts that are created by methods such as online polls.

Types of Audiences/Social Groups

Group ‘A’:

• Doctors

• Scientists

• Lawyers

• Well paid professionals

Group ‘C1’:

• Junior management

• Bank clerks

• Nurses

• 'White collar' professions

Group ‘B’:

• Teachers

• Middle management

• Fairly well paid professionals

Group ‘C2’:

• Electricians

• Plumbers

• Carpenters

• 'Blue collar' professionals

Types of Audiences/Social Groups

Group ‘D’:

• Manual workers

• Drivers

• Post sorters

Group ‘E’:

• Students

• Unemployed

• Pensioners

I think the audience that would be most sought after by a media company would be young adults/students because they potentially have the most free leisure time in comparison with those in well paid professions. This would mean that they are more likely to go and see a film in the cinema and the film will make a higher amount of profit.