It can, depending on what is being researched, go into even more depth looking at things such as marital status, life cycle stage, class, religion, demographics and geodemographics. Before beginning a project it is essential to conduct audience research to know what appeals to people and if the project is worth taking any further. Due to its extensive nature (usually using primary, qualitative research such as focus groups and surveys) audience research can be consume lots of time and money and so has to be done effectively and be concluded with all answers.
Audience research can change how a product is being created, as results from the research may result in drastic changes which will appeal to more people. The production may then adjust things such as the way it is advertised, created and distributed. Audiences are usually researched using primary methods as they will need to look at the specifics and up-to-date opinions and thoughts. Quantitative research may be needed if the audience is a large portion of people such as a population of a city or country, though qualitative will normally be used if the product is being aimed at a niche market.
Audience research involves looking into the preferences and buying patterns of their target audience, through different types of profiling. A number of classifications are used to describe a media audience. Demographics is used to describe people according to factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, occupation, social class and sexual orientation. Geodemographics are a way of describing a group of people based on where they live such as town, city or even by their post code. A large international organization may even use countries to describe people. Psychographics is a way of describing people based on their attitudes, opinions and lifestyle.
An example of each:
Demographics: Many companies will use this way of describing people as it helps a company narrow a group down to their intended specific audience. As they can implement as many factors as they want, a company will usually be able to gain as much information as possible from this profiling technique.
Geodemographics: If an individual or company is looking to create something such as a regional radio station or newspaper they will look at people in that area and their interests, issues and things such as community relations so, they can subsequently create content that will appeal to the right target audience.
Psychographics: This provides information about a persons lifestyle and their attitudes and opinions about various topics. So, a sports magazine may look at people with healthy lifestyles and who regularly keep fit through different means. They will then try to create content which appeals to as many people as possible.
The advantages and disadvantages of audience research depend on the technique h that is being used to collect it, such as primary, secondary, qualitative and quantitative. It depends on what specifically is being researched about an audience-and its size- that determines which type is used. The main advantage is that it gives a researcher crucial information regarding an audiences likes and dislikes, so they can change their media product or service accordingly. Other advantages include the information being new and giving an up-to-date representation of what is being profiled. The information may also give detailed answers which can be used to create better content. Disadvantages can include things such as the information being out of date or unreliable. More about advantages and disadvantages of research types can be found under their respective titles on this blog.
An example of the class system; a social hierarchy within the UK. Researchers will use this when referring to demographics.
