Research Task - Media Theory

My media text has to be profitable for the institution that is to be distributing and producing it, and so I have to make sure that it effectively targets an audience and elements in the magazine are constructed so as to appeal to this audience as best possible. 


You can define a target audience by their gender, race, age and 'socio-economic status', and all these factors can alter the buying habits of audiences and I aim to target the mostly male, younger demographic of 15-17 year olds who have some disposable income to spend on magazines and other luxury items. The male population I believe is more lucrative than the female counterpart is due to the fact that males spend more of their disposable income on magazines and items similar to this than females who would more likely spend their money on cosmetics, fashion, etc. 


Due to the fact that the audience is likely to have some spare pocket money, their parents are likely to be in relatively stable and somewhat higher paying jobs, so, the 'C2-B' groups of social class are my main target for my magazine, but if it proves interesting, it would appeal to lower classes also (although my genre is unlikely to appeal to higher classes who will have a varying taste in music). 


In media theory, 'Psychographic Profiling' refers to common consumer characteristics in people. 40% of all consumers are 'mainstreamers' - people who seek security in conformity and going for well-known brands. While this is obviously not the number one audience for my magazine which aims to be successful in actually not using the mainstream alternatives, it is still a viable audience to target because mainstreamers might intend to learn about new and up and coming bands (that my magazine would target) so as to 'pick up the trend' faster and quicker than anyone else so as to be secure in the knowledge that they have found something that everyone likes - and they would buy the magazine to support this belief. 


Since an integral part of marketing a product includes usage of the 'AIDA' model (Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action), I will have to make sure that my magazine grabs peoples attention with recognisable mastheads and colours, interesting content which sustains audience interest by focusing on what it is that they expect and desire, giving people reason to sustain interest with phrases such as "learn about this band's tour", "learn about how this band did this", "what happens backstage", etc, that provide privileged knowledge to readers and actually gives them reason to buy (action) the magazine.  


In addition, if you observe the 'Uses and Gratifications' theory proposed by 'Blumler, McQuail and brown' in a book entitled 'Sociology of the Mass Media', you notice that people's habits are down to the fact that people must consume so as to:

'Diversion' 
People like to escape into someone else's world and learning about the lives of bands will allow people to do just that. People do this to release themselves from everyday pressures and provide emotional release for a small moment of time. 


Personal Relationships 
In order to function sometimes in social settings, people must be 'in the know' about certain subjects and media texts are what provide knowledge about these subjects and allow people to sustain 'personal relationships' this way. 


Personal Identity
People explore people's personalities and problems in media texts and compare this with their own issues so as to make decisions, changes in their lives, etc based off examples made by the media that seem acceptable. 


Surveillance
People are simply nosy and media texts provide insight into what is happening in the world and people like to keep informed of the world's happenings (or in this case the happenings in music, upcoming gigs, bands, tours etc). 

In general, I have to satisfy the needs of the audience by being informative but too providing realistic situations that people can relate to and understand, and then finally making sure that the content is interesting for people to be used in 'personal relationships'.