Target Audience The Mass Media is becoming more competitive than ever to attract more and more audiences in different ways and to stay profitable.Audience profiling allows media businesses to narrow down their audience/ customers to find their target audience. It is always best for a media business to find their target audience before they market a new product so they can get the best results and profit. A target audience is an audience that is most relevant and connected to the media product that a company is trying to sell hence the name target audience. When a media business is defining an audience to find their target audience some of the factors they must consider are age, gender, religion, and media interests.
A very common and traditional method when audience profiling is to use a demographics chart to narrow down the search for the best target audience. The purpose of a demographics chart is to define the adult population largely by the work that they do. The demographic chart breaks the entire population of adults down into six groups. The chart then labels them by using a letter code that then describes the status and income of the members of each group.
Measuring the number of viewers and listeners for a TV/ Radio programme or whole station’s output is a complex business. Generally, an audience research agency will select a sample of the population and monitor their viewing and listening habits over the space of 7 days. The data gained is then extrapolated to cover the whole population, based on the percentage sample. It is by no means an accurate science and the numbers obtained are known as the viewing figures or ratings. Most radio stations try to cater to a target audience. Radio producers do this by playing music that appeals to the target audience. Contests and free tickets may be featured to grab teenagers' interest. Morning shows focusing on current events may be aired to make commuters stay tuned during their drive to work. Even the commercials you hear are geared toward a specific audience. Think about the ads featured on your favorite radio station. What products or services are being sold? Are you the target audience?
One way to determine the target audience of a radio station is to listen to that station and notice the elements included, the songs, the morning and evening programs, the words and phrases the deejay uses and the commercials. Slogans also help because a catchy phrase or sentence may be featured on a radio station's Web site to help "sell" the station to its listeners and to help create an image for the station. The intended effect is for listeners to remember the slogan and its message. Audience participation also has methodology behind it. Living, breathing producers – not computer algorithms – screen callers before putting them on the air. That screening process is radio’s form of comment “moderation,” and it’s been effective in helping radio hosts maintain control over the quality of a show.
Also, professional radio producers say they act with the explicit goal of “adding value” – either editorial or entertainment value – when deciding to incorporate contributions from the public. If, through the screening process, producers determine a caller will not meet that “value-add” criteria, then the caller’s comments will not become part of the show.For commercial radio shows dependent on advertising, producers may only pick callers who fit the demographic of the show’s target audience. Talk radio shows don’t particularly like chronic callers, either. A variety of voices and opinions is better. Just as talk radio shows differ in taste and tone based upon the personality of the host, online news sites can tailor their particular flavor of audience participation to reflect their character.