Target Audience

Target Audience

It is important to have a target audience so that the media being created will contain attributes that will attract the correct group of people and will be entertaining for them. 

Target audiences can be split up into two categories: 

·         Demographics: This groups the adult population depending on the work they do. There are 6 groups that are letter coded. 

·         Psychographics: Groups people depending on them as a person. They’re defined by their hobbies, interests, job etc..

The Demographic groupings are: 

·         A: High management, bankers, lawyers, doctors

·         B: Middle management, teachers, creative/media people

·         C1: Office supervisors, junior managers, nurses – white collar

·         C2: Skilled manual workers, plumbers, builders – blue collar

·         D: Semi-skilled/unskilled manual workers

·         E: Unemployed, students, pensioners and casual workers

The Psychographic groupings are:

·         Mainstreamers: Seek security. They’re usually domestic, conventional, and sentimental. They favour value for money family brands. Mainly the largest group.

·         Aspirers: Seek status. Materialistic, orientated to image and appearance. Packaging is more important than contents. Usually younger people.

·         Succeeders: Seek control. Strong goals, confident and organised. Typically higher management.

·         Resigned: Seeks survival. Interested in the past and tradition. Usually older.

·         Explorers: Seek discovery. Values difference and adventure. The first to try new things. Younger, usually students.  

·         Strugglers: Seek escape. Choice involves impact and sensation. Usually are in the D/E demographic profiles.

·         Reformers: Seek enlightenment. Anti-materialistic but aware of good taste. Usually has attended higher education and selects for quality. 

My target audience:

•       Age: I have decided to target my thriller towards young adults, around 15 and older. A thriller may seem more appealing to a younger audience who seek adventure and entertainment from their films. 15  is old enough to watch a movie with appropriate content to that age whilst still including content that will add more of a thrill to the audience, such as violence and action. Any younger, it could prove uncomforting to the audience. 

•       Gender: I will aim my thriller at both genders so then it makes up a larger audience. I will try and break stereotypical conventions within thrillers, such as women being the victim and the man being the dominant hero, so that it is more gender neutral and does not spur on gender stereotypes or offend the audience.

•       Background: My thriller will be aimed at young adults and families with teenage children. Young adults who are in the Band E may be more inclined to see my thriller because they will have more free time to spend rather than someone with a full time job and are likely to get together at a weekend with their friends to watch the movie. My thriller may also be appealing to families but with older or teenage children as young children could find it upsetting. Both types will be able to afford tickets or the DVD as they have a source of income from their parents or a part time job.

•       Demographics: I think that my thriller should be aimed at people in the B band and D-E band. People in the B band might find a thriller appealing as it gives a sense of adventure and has many opportunities to be creative and so it would appeal to the more creative and artistic professions within the job. Especially films that may include some form of design, such as Godzilla (2014) and I Am Number Four which has creative designs of monsters. I also selected D-E because they will have a lot of free time and will want to seek some sort of adventure or escapism through watching a film so they may be drawn towards a thriller to get a sense of adrenaline or excitement. They will also be able to afford tickets with a part time job or money gifted by their parents.

•       Psychographics: People who are interested in action, explosions, scares, story etc… may be more likely to watch a thriller. People who are interested in shows such as Doctor Who or Sherlock or any similar sort of TV show that includes some form of adventure or crime may be inclined to see a certain type of thriller for the adrenaline rush it could produce. Also people interested in thriller books such as The Hunger Games or books including crime may also be interested in a thriller movie. The Mainstreamers, Strugglers, Reformers, Aspirers may be appropriate targets.

•       Other media they would use: Someone who likes thriller movies may also like:

Video Games – action shooter games such as Bioshock or survival games like The Forest.

Books – crime books like Sherlock or Nancy Drew and thriller books like The Hunger Games.

Tv Shows – action and adventure such as Doctor Who and Agents of Shield or crime dramas such as Sherlock.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 Target Audience:

The Hunger Games was originally a trilogy of books written by Suzanne Collins. The books had their film debut in 2012 with the release of the film adaptation of the first book. The original books were aimed at young teens and adults and so are the films. Mockingjay Part 1 has a 12 rating meaning that no one under 12 are recommended to watch it. The reason it got a 12 was due to the immense amount of violence within the film and references to things that may be triggers to people such as hanging and war.

The film contains a lot of action and has a female protagonist. She is leading a revolution that will set free a whole country of people who are being forcefully killed off by their government through the Hunger Games. This will most likely attract young audiences in the Demographic group E, specifically young students, and audiences in the Explorers Psychographic groups. Young students will most likely have read the books or will be interested in seeing the movie as an escape from schoolwork or they may be attracted to the fact that there is a strong female lead who breaks the gender stereotypes in the media.