Audience Theory Video Notes

Know Your Audience 

 

 Psychographics 

• A method of organizing people by how they think and categorizing audiences based on personality qualities that influence their media intake.
• Mainstreamers: "Everyone else is watching it, so I should too."
• Aspirers: People who aspire to be wealthy, attractive, and/or successful 
• Reformers: People who aspire to alter the world are unconcerned by their social standing and make decisions based on their worth.
• Explorers: Adventurous people who like taking risks 
• Succeeder: A wealthy and successful person who places a high value on prestige Try to figure out which group(s) a media text appeals to when you're evaluating it. It has the potential to appeal to one or more groups.

Gratifications 

• Categorizing media products by what they offer to their audience 
• Four Categories: Entertainment, Information, Personal Relationships, and Personal Identity

Social Grades and Demographics

• A- Upper Middle Class (Higher Managerial) 
• B- Middle Class (Intermediate Managerial) 
• C1- Lower Middle Class (Junior Managerial)
• C2- Skilled Working Class (Skilled Manual Workers)
• D- Working Class (Unskilled Manual Workers)
• E- Nonworkers (People dependent on state income)

Percent of people 

• A- 4% 
• B- 23% 
• C1- 29% 
• C2- 21% 
• D- 15% 
• E- 8% 
• Most media texts  targeted towards A-C1

Active and Passive Audience

• Active Audience: Those who are more enthusiastic about the media text will be active participants in its sharing, alteration, and even invention. It is deemed active just to have an opinion or to create a comprehension of the media text.
• Passive Audience: Participate in a media text but don't pay attention to it or take it at face value. Having something playing in the background but not paying attention to it.