Focus Group Analysis

I did a Media Studies focus group on Indie Rock magazines and music magazines in

general to find out more about what my target audience likes and dislikes about

them. My focus group was made up of Kirsty, Katie and Hannah who represented

my target audience and answered the questions I presented them with about Indie

Rock magazines and what they prefer to be featured in them.

For my first question I asked them “Which of these magazines do you like the best

and why?” out of the magazine ‘INDIE’ with a male artist on the cover in front of a

grey plain background and the magazine ‘NME’ which had Lana Del Rey on the

cover standing in front of the American flag. Kirsty answered saying “The one on

the left” which was the ‘INDIE’ magazine and that this was because “It looks better;

with the colours”. Katie answered saying “I prefer the one on the right (NME)

because it has brighter colours.”

Hannah answered saying “The one on the right because the other one doesn’t give

you information on what is in the magazine and it could be pointless.” This will

help me when I am making my magazine as I know to make the front cover look

more colourful than a typical magazine and to put a lot of information on it so the

audience know what is in the magazine.

For my second question, I asked my target audience “What Indie Rock artist would

you like to see in an Indie Rock magazine?” Kirsty answered swiftly saying “The

1975.” Katie answered saying “Paramore” and Hannah answered also saying “The

1975.” This will help me when I make my magazine as I know to include bands in

my magazine that are similar to the Indie Rock bands ‘The 1975’ and ‘Paramore’ as

they are the bands my target audience enjoy. My audience may have answered like

this because they recognise the popular Indie Rock bands and would enjoy seeing

them featured inside my magazine as they would want to learn more about them.

For my third question, I asked them “Would you prefer to see album reviews or

information on gigs in a magazine?” All three of them answered saying

“Information on gigs.” This will help me when I make my magazine as I know to

include information on upcoming Indie Rock gigs and festivals in my magazine as

they are what my target audience are interested in. My target audience may have

answered this way because they prefer to know when the biggest gigs are and it

may have been better to save album reviews for the website where my audience

could read them in more detail.

For my fourth question, I asked my target audience, “Would you rather see a man

or woman on the cover of an Indie Rock magazine and why?” Kirsty answered

saying “A man, because it would make the magazine look more attractive.” Katie

answered saying “A woman” and Hannah answered saying “I don’t have a

preference.” This will help me when I make my magazine as I know that it doesn’t

matter whether it is a man or woman on the front cover of my magazine because

my target audience don’t mind either. My target audience may have answered this

way because if they see a woman on the cover they can relate to her more than

they would a man. However, they might find themselves more drawn to a male on

the cover.

For my fifth and final question, I asked them “Would you rather have a contents

page full of information or full of images?” Kirsty answered saying “Both.” Katie

answered saying “I would prefer images” and Hannah answered saying “Mostly

pictures because I don’t like too much writing.” This will help me when I make my

magazine as I know that in my contents page I should include mostly images and

less text because it is what my target audience prefer. My target audience may

have answered like this because on the contents page the images are a quick

indication of who will be featured in the magazine whereas they might not take the

time to read about it.