TASK 8 AUDIENCE RESEARCH-QUALITATIVEAUDIENCE PROFILE AND FOCUS GROUPS TASK 8 TARGET AUDIENCE RESEARCH USING QUALITATIVE METHODS SUCH

CH AS FOCUS GROUPS Student example used here (KAVs): Based on her research interests into indie/rock. She wanted to target an alternative audience to the mainstream one currently targeted- her target audience was females (aged 16-24) interested in indie/rock music. She begins her research by identifying the stereotype associated with indie/rock audiences, and then she moves on to focus on her particular target audience

The stereo typical audience profile Who mainly listens to that music the genre is stereotyped to mainly people with an interest in an indie style Gender male/female Age - 16-24 Social class middle class Ethnicity Caucasian Interests individual style, guitars, festivals Dress sense skinny jeans, jewelry, dark clothes, bracelets, and clothing with the name of bands on, converse, boots, leather jackets Why they listen to indie/rock they listen to it because it offers diverse, new and interesting music for people who get tired of listening to the same thing over and over again. Also, this type of music focuses on producing good music with meaning behind the lyrics unlike some other genres of today to whom its all about the money. How often they listen to the music very frequently, as it can be a way to relax them or it could be a hobby of theirs What they would like in magazines the magazine would contain current artists who refer to the genre, interviews, latest news of the stars, gigs and current trends.

Target Audience Research : Focus Group

General background: Name: Millie Watling Age: 16 Ethnicity: Caucasian Lives in Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands

How she uses music: She hasnt been before but she would like to go to concerts, listens to music often in her free time and when shes at home. She admires particular bands and artists. Likes to listen to music a lot as it is a regular thing she does and a way to drift off into another world. She downloads music for her ipod on iTunes and listens to songs on youtube.

Feelings about music magazines: She doesnt buy music magazines very often because they dont really interest her enough to buy them Likes look of Q magazine because its striking and stands out a lot Likes band Coldplay and Florence and the Machine because of the instruments they use and the lyrics of their songs.

Interests: Likes to maintain her own style and dress how she feels comfortable. What does she like about indie/rock music? The lyrics, the instruments they use.

Her music magazine preferences: Doesnt read them but likes Q magazine She wants to see more about concerts and gigs and all the key and relevant dates for music fans in the calendar year

General thoughts about indie music: She likes to listen to it and loves the kind of music they produce but she doesnt have a particular music taste as such.

Summary of results
Section 1 THE FRONT COVER (QUESTIONS 1-4)

1.Front cover what images would you like?

The images on the front cover should be one striking image, which should be a female to show that rock/indie music is also popular amongst the female audience. Also the image shouldnt be too complicated or bright because it is effective to use images that maintain the sole focus on the character and so that other irrelevant distractions dont get in the way to keep the image straightforward and striking.

1. What would like to see on the front cover e.g. sell lines?
For a rock/indie magazine, there should sell lines which would interest the audience, such as rock/indie stars both male and female to reach out to both sets of audience. Also interview, fashion stories and details about gigs to show the magazine has more to offer.

2. What colours would be appropriate?

The colours of the magazine should be dark and colourless (which are also very effective), representative of the type of music. Maybe even using black and white images for greater effects.

3. What type of language would you expect?

The language on the front cover should not be too formal, nor formal because this would not be the stereotypical idea of a rock magazine, its much more toned down so the language used would be

somewhere in the middle of formal and informal with the idea being that it appeals to a wider audience and not specifically just indie/rock music lovers between those ages which it is solely doing. SECTION 2 THE CONTENTS PAGE (QUESTIONS 5-8)

4. Contents page - what type of images would you like and how many?
There should be more then one image in a contents page, because usually the images show whats going to be in the magazine. There is normally 1 dominant image of the person on the front cover and then smaller images.

5. What would you want to be contained within the magazine?

The magazine should offer a wide range of things, all of which relating to indie/rock and to show it focuses on more then just music, to keep the audience interest. Such as fashion trends, gigs, interviews and latest gossip, which should be categorized and numbered clearly thus making it easier for the reader to identify where each bit of information is located and where to find it.

6. How much images and text would you expect?

On a contents page the text should just be mainly on the features and also an editors note, however there should a variety of images to keep readers interested and to show them what else will be included in the magazine.

7. What type of language?

The language should correspond to the genre and the style of magazine trying to be created, so as with the language used on the front cover, it should be neither informal or formal and a little bit of a mix of the both. SECTION 3- THE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD ARTICLE (QUESTIONS 9-12)

8. Double page what choice of images would you want?

The images should reflect the artists persona, as the indie/rock genre shows the artists to be slightly beautiful and mysterious in the own way with their own character and a sense of individuality. If the image is of girl they should be portrayed quite powerful, dominant and striking to portray all of these things. A range of different shot types should be used, to show their face and their body.

9. What would you prefer the article to be about?

Most popular, would be an interview with a recently established star, someone who is popular amongst the audience of today, as it gives a lot of fans something to look forward to reading about because it might be their favourite artist, thus also appealing to a wider audience and so more people would go out to buy the magazine.

10.How would you expect the language to be?

The language reflect the artist that is being mentioned, if it is a interview, the language tends to be more informal because its speech, therefore the quotes used would be typical of how the artist talks in everyday life. The language should also be direct so that readers can follow it easily.

11.Would you prefer more image or text based articles?

The double page should be balanced between images and text; in this case there shouldnt be too much text which would allow the reader to lose interest and consider it more of a chore to read all of the text which dominates the page. Because of this, it would be effective to include big striking images that dominate the picture and the text anchors them. The images need to be big, bold and prominent. And usually there would be 1 main image or 1 main image with smaller images scattered around but with the main picture being the primary focus.