Audience Research - Who is the Target Audience?

In order to make sure that our promotional materials appeal to our target audience, we decided it would be in our best interest to bring together a focus group to provide us with feedback at various stages in our planning, production and post production. Our focus group have so far helped by providing their opinions on what they consider to be the strengths and weaknesses of the music videos we have been researching. In the future, the focus group will give our group feedback on our own work. At certain stages we will ask them to view what we've come up with and provide us with positive and negative feedback.

When putting together our focus group, our overall goal was to come up with a sample of people which are a representation of our target audience. In order to do this, we began by pinpointing our target audience and creating a typical profile of a member.

Audience Profile:

Age: 15-24

Gender: Primarily female but males are included

Registrar General's Social Scale: C1/B/E 

Shelby's Psychographic Cluster: 'Innovators: who wish to make their mark'

Description:

A typical member of our target audience would be a female, however the various promotions will be targeted for both males and females. When researching The Chainsmokers original productions and who typically goes to see them live, we personally felt that they catered slightly more for women than men. They would also be in their late teens or early twenties - perhaps a sixth-form/university student. They would be someone who wishes to strive in the world they are present in and make their mark and could possibly see themselves as rebellious - someone who wishes to remake their world in their own image. We also think that the members of our target audience would most defiantly enjoy going to gigs and festivals, much like those of Nass and Boomtown, where dance/EDM music is sort after. 

In terms of Elihu Katz's 'Uses and Gratifications', a member of our focus group would be someone who gains a sense of their own identity from the music they listen to and someone who uses music as a form of escapism from the stresses of everyday life drama. The 'Uses and Gratifications' model suggests that audiences use the media rather than being used by the media. 

Focus Group:

Using this audience profile (above) as a base, we compiled a group of five people who are within the same friendship group so to an extent share similarities and are similar ages/genders with our target audience. We will continue to use the exact same members of the focus group throughout the development of our coursework and evaluations. 

Phoebe: Studies Drama, English Literature, and Philosophy and Ethics at A-Level. Her hobbies consist of playing guitar (very musical person and enjoys going to gigs and festivals), blogging and reading. 

James: Studies Mathematics, Economics and Geography. His hobbies are football, going to the gym, and socialising. 

Alex: Studies History, Geography and Business Studies. Hobbies consist of horse riding and socialising with friends from school and work.

Scarlett: Studies Geography, Business Studies and Drama. Her hobbies include dancing, athletics and socialising with friends.

Ben: Studies Psychology, Biology and Chemistry. Ben's hobbies include playing cricket and attending gigs.