Audience Demographics

Audience

When producing a magazine, producers have to consider several different factors whilst deciding on the audience they are targeting their magazine towards. When planning their magazine they have to consider and think about what genre they want their magazine along with thinking about what genre would be the best popularity wise as the genre that they choose has to be worth it and popular with in the audience, they look to choose a genre that will do well on the market generally, they also have to think about whether they choose to target the “Niche Market” which is basically a specialised market that basically focuses on a specific element of the market and is sometime usually aimed at a variety of ethnicities or go worldwide or universal which basically mean whether they want to target maybe a mass market.

Some other aspects that are usually taken into consideration usually include – • Age Range• Gender• Social Class• Income• Psycho – Graphics• Employment

Genre

The genre that I have chosen for my school magazine is “Urban” which is basically a mixture of Hip Hop, R&B, UK Grime, Reggae, Dancehall, Funky House etc. http://www.urbanmusicdaily.net/

I specifically chose this genre as it is within the Niche Market, I chose this as I want to mainly focus on one specific element or factor of the market.

I chose the genre “Urban” as I personally believe that there aren’t very many magazines on the market at the moment that contain several other sub genre’s in one cost efficient magazine, I believe that it would be successful. However on the other hand it may come as a disadvantage as all audiences might not prefer all the genres mixed in what and this is where I would have to do further research to enable me to find out what my audience would prefer.

Age RangeThe age range that I have chosen for my magazine is around 12 to 18 years. I have specifically chosen this age range as I believe that as Urban is a mixture of Hip Hop and R&B mainly which I usually up beat and fresh music I just assumed that it was common sense for it to be aimed at this age group regardless of a stereotype I believe that in actual fact many audiences that listen to this type of music are in actual fact aged between these ages and a very few minority above this age find these genres of music interesting and entertaining. I also chose this age group as the concept around my magazine similar to the type of music it features is fresh, something new and eye catching focusing mainly on the sub genres Hip and R&B and slight UK Grime purely as they are the three most popular genres that I have observed listened to by peers etc. I also find that as the music is loud, funky and sometimes inappropriate I found that a younger audience find this amusing and entertaining in comparison to somebody a little older.

Gender

I am to target my magazine a towards both male and female audiences as both sexes listen to the sub genres that come under “Urban”. I found that by targeting my magazine to both sexes I believe it would appeal to a wider audience and I feel if my magazine was actually produced and distributed I feel that it would bring me larger profit as a result of the wider audience.

By targeting the magazine at both sexes, it will bring complications and challenges as stereotypically it would be difficult for me to a magazine that both sexes would find interest in, as both sexes find interest in very different things for example female audiences are stereotyped into finding interest in more “Weaker” softer and quieter music like Pop or Hip Hop for etc whereas male audiences are stereotyped into finding interest in more “Manly” music that is harder and louder music such as Rock and Indie. However I will try my best to put both things that male and female audiences enjoy into one sufficient magazine.

I also chose to aim the magazine at both male and female audiences as I found that there are a lot of Urban artists on the market at the moment that are both male and female and by widening my audience I feel that audiences could relate to this as maybe they could look up or see the featured artists as role models and maybe aspire to be like them, this would maybe trigger them into purchasing the magazine, urban singer on the market at the moment include artists such as Skepta, Giggs, Tinie Tempah, Preeya Kalidas and Jernade Miah etc. These are all young and fresh artists that audiences could find inspirations from

Social Class

When looking at social class there is a lot to be taken into consideration, there is the matter of employment whether someone works or even unemployed etc and the amount of income basically money that a household receives whether that’s weekly or monthly. Psycho – Dynamics also links in with the discussion of social class.

This comes as a obstacle to magazine producers whilst producing a magazine as they always have to be aware about the fact that they might be stereotyping certain classes. They cannot make assumptions about what certain audiences might or might not listen to, this is where they have to take a gamble for example they cannot assume that someone who is middle class for example might not listen to UK Grime, a type of music that is usually home-grown and inappropriate, they cannot assume that someone of this class might not listen to it due to the style and standard in which the type of music is produced at.

The fact is anybody regardless what social class can listen to whatever genre of music they like regardless of how much money they receive or whether they are working or not, this comes as great difficulty to many magazine producers as they have to market and distribute a magazine that ignores any sort of stereotype whatsoever and also a magazine that would appeal to all social classes, they have to find a middle ground or balance of some sort.

The social class that I am aiming my magazine at is between middle class citizens for example University students etc and lower class citizens for example younger urban teenagers. I chose this as the Urban class are mainly focused on R&B, Hip Hop and UK Grime which are the main sub genres Urban are made up of. I chose these social classes as not all audiences can afford an expensive magazine to read so I wanted to create a reasonably priced and efficient magazine that would be an appropriate price for all audiences to purchase, I also chose these social classes as stereotypically a lot of lower class audiences listen to a lot of UK Grime as it is local and fresh, something new, this is mainly where I aim to retrieve most of my target audience from, I also aim the magazine at middle class citizens as people of that class mainly University students who are stereotypically known as the “Partiers”, as I aim my magazine to be fresh and fun I also predict this is also the class where I will get a lot of my target audience from as the magazine offer something exciting and fun similar to the characteristics of a party.

Employment – Employment is something both old and young people can be involved in, there is no age boundary for this activity. Employment decides the amount of income a household receives, this determines the amount of money they have and also sometimes limits the amount of money they can spend. It is very clear that being employed and working links in with the key issue of the amount of income you receive and also what social class you are listed as.

Disposable Income – When somebody has disposable income they have a significant amount of extra money left over to spend on luxuries for example after paying the bills and taxes etc

Psycho - DynamicsThe term “Psycho – Dynamics” is very new to me as I have never heard of it before so I had to research further to enable me to develop a further understanding into What it is? What it’s about? and How it links in with audience demographics?

Some of the main groups....• Aspirers – The people in this group want to belong in a social class higher than them selves.• Mainstreamers – This is the largest group who are usually conformists who usually tend to purchase “Safe” things and big brand products usually designer.• Succeeders – These are people who are usually confident and tend to be successful. The don't tend to buy big brand products or aspirational products and usually tend to follow their own ideas and thoughts of what they think is a good product.• Explorers – These people tend to seek novelty and are known to try new things without hesitation, they are most likely to be early adopters of completely new products.• Reformers – These group of people are caring, creative, selfless and not brand conscious.• Constrained – This group are people are usually unfortunate as these people are poor and sometimes in some cases struggling.• Strivers - These people are usually status oriented and are always aware and alert about their popularity for example. They usually seek money, social acceptance and approval and also social status. They are usually known as buyers of “ Aspirational” goods.

Some other groups....• Creators – This group of people usually tend to create a viral version of the magazine sometimes in the form of a “blog” as well as promoting the latest trends as well as latest music tribes and artists.• Joiners – These are people that tend to promote and advertise the magazine however not virally but verbally they also tend to get involved with them.• Critics – This group of people tend to get involved with the magazine like really hands on and usually send in letters criticising or complimenting editors of the magazine about what they think of the article, images and the magazine over all.•Spectators – These people are usually just the people that just tend to read the magazine. • Collectors – These people tend to be the “Fans” of the magazine and usually tend to follow the website and online fan pages usually through social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter for example.• Trenders – This group of people are usually young, unmarried and style conscience always aware and self conscience about the way they look. Aspirers are usually the people in this group in the sense that they to want to be “Achiever” maybe like peers for example. They have a great love for the latest technology and usually respect their opinions of others as well as their own.•Self – Sufficients – This group of people usually tend to be slightly older than “Trenders” however share the same income bracket as Trenders. The people that tend to be in this this group are usually practical and talk their mind. They don't find any interest and amusement out of “fancy” things as they find interest in plain, comforting things.• Heartlanders – These group of people tend to be a little less educated than Achievers and Authentics and usually tend to follow traditional values and are slower to accept new things and changes.• Achievers – This group of people tend to be ambitious and well educated, these people are usually family oriented and find comfort and warmth through family. These people tend to take a low key more sophisticated approach to marketing and only take advise from people they admire.• Authentics – Creative entrepreneurs, unique individuals that are usually more community oriented than family and these people do not find marketing approaches that are “hard sell” appealing.

I aim to target my magazine at three previous Psycho – Dynamics that I had mentioned previously. These are....

• Aspirers: The people in this group want to belong in a social class higher than them selves.

• Constrained: This group are people are usually unfortunate as these people are poor and sometimes in some cases struggling.

• Creators: This group of people usually tend to create a viral version of the magazine sometimes in the form of a “blog” as well as promoting the latest trends as well as latest music tribes and artists.

[As I aim my magazine towards a younger audience that aspire to be like the artists featured in the magazine, I assumed that this would only be common sense if I did this as by targeting mainly aspirers it would hopefully attract a

larger audience .]

[As I am aiming my magazine towards a large audience as well as wanting all my audience to have easy access to this, by making my magazine cost efficient and cheaper I personally believe that this would help widen my target audience as I would be appealing to all social classes., this would help increase the

popularity of my magazine throughout my audience .]

[By targeting this group it will increase the popularity of the magazine virally and this would come as an advantage as the viral market is enormous and news would spread quickly and cost free, this would come as a great advantage as not as much money would have to be spent marketing the actual magazine. However this could come as a disadvantage say if I received a bad review, it would determine whether a person purchased my magazine rather than the

next]

Ethnicity

When magazine producers are creating magazines they face many complications when designing the magazine as they cannot make it biased or one sided towards a particular race, however this merely depends on what ethnic background the producer is specifically aiming at, this could cause disagreement and arguments across the audiences so when creating a magazine audiences have to be very aware about whether they are offended there audience or not.

For my magazine I want to aim it at a diverse ethnicity as the genre “Urban” is made up of a variety of different sub genres including Hip Hop, UK Grime and R&B with artists of that genre who are of all coloured backgrounds. Also as this music is mainly classed as fresh and upbeat dance music I personally believe that this could be anybody regardless what ethic background they are from.