Audience Classification Questions

1. a) 

The MainstreamThe Great British Bake Off has been targeted specifically at the mainstream audience. Firstly, it is now a well-known franchise with 5 series being aired. The format hasn’t changed over the different series and so you know what to expect from the text. This offers brand security to the audience. It also offers brand security via the use of two well-known chefs – Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, as well as using two well-known presenters – Mel and Sue.

The AspirerThe Apprentice is mainly targeted at The Aspirer due to the values of the programme. The Aspirer values materialism, which is the main focus of The Apprentice. One of the ideologies of The Apprentice is that money is important. The series follows a group of candidates who what to win the program in order to obtain a £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar. The winning team is decided upon which team makes the most money, which is an example of how the show puts a value on having money. This is one of the values of The Aspirer. The Aspirer also values people’s perceptions of themselves. This is also valued in The Apprentice, via the emphasis of the idea that the perceptions that Karen and Nick have on the candidates will influence Lord Sugar’s decision to fire someone.

The SucceederIn life, the succeeder looks for prestige in their programs and Dragons Den is a program that is designed to satisfy this need. It does this by creating an ethos of that only the best ideas will gain investment. In each episode we see a group of successful businesspeople listening to several pitches from different entrepreneurs before questioning their business plan and then deciding if they want to impress. The businesspeople are all successful people who are very confident in what they do, and also only invest in the most prestigious ideas. This provides something that the succeeder can relate to. The best ideas are rewarded with an investment from the dragons, which also appeals to the Succeeder audience.

The ExplorerLizard Lick Towing is targeted to the explorer audience due to its unusual and constantly changing format. The genre is reality, but it is an unconventional format, with the events being real and not staged. There are not many reality shows that look at vehicle repossession agents and there are not many reality shows targeted to men rather than a typically female audience.

b) How useful do you think these kinds of categories are helping to define audience types?

I think that these categories are very useful for audience classification as they take into consideration a wide variety of factors to build a profile of the audience. Unlike the Income/Status model, the audience classification model takes into consideration things like your religion, ethnic background, childhood and various other things. All these categories are not focused purely on your education or your job. It is also more useful that the Audience Profiling Model as this model takes into consideration things like your lifestyle and needs in life which means that people rarely change or fit into other categories as their status in life is not as important in this model.

c) Find out what is on the TV right now – choose one show and create an Audience Profile for a typical audience member using Hartley & Fiske’s subjectivities.

Our ZooOur Zoo is mainly targeted towards the explorer. This is because it is a drama series that is based purely on real life story of the Mottersheads. It also tackles the story from alternative and unusual viewpoints such as the grandparents and children rather than the main character of George Mottershead. You learn more about the story from these characters. The story is also an unconventional story and is not a topic previously dealt with in detail before in the media. I also think however the show could target the mainstream audience, because of the values that the program is based upon. It deals with the ideology of family being important, which is a quality looked upon by the mainstream audience. These solid values are what are looked for in a program targeted towards the mainstream audience.

d) Based on Lifestyle Categories, for the four texts you chose for question (a) and the TV show you chose for (c) – decide which audience of the people on the Lifestyles Categories sheet would be a likely audience member.

The Great British Bake OffThe Trendies would definitely be an audience member of The Great British Bake Off. This is because the Trendies long for the admiration of their peer group. This is the exact idea behind The Great British Bake Off. The contestants on the programme spend a long time producing these amazing bakes purely so that the judges will be impressed, as well as their fellow contestants. This idea is something that the Trendies can relate to.

The ApprenticeThe Apprentice could appeal to the Trendies based on the idea that they are looking for admiration from Lord Sugar. However I think that the most likely audience would a Cowboy. Their main aim in life is to make money and make it quickly – this is the whole premise of The Apprentice. The aim of the tasks each episode is to make the most money in order to become the winning team, which appeals to the Cowboys. Even the aim of the candidates throughout the series is to gain £250,000 within the 10 week process.

Dragons DenThe whole idea of the show is to provide entrepreneurs the platform to get their ideas shared and potentially gain an investment to make their idea a reality. This idea appeals to the Innovators and the Utopians in the same way. The reason for this is that most of the ideas on the show are created by people looking to improve the world. However the main target audience member is the Innovators. Their aim in life is to make their mark on the world, and this is the aim of the program, to provide people with a platform to make their world changing idea a reality. This idea directly appeals to the Innovators.

Lizard Lick TowingDue to its unusual nature, the audience of Lizard Lick Towing is quite narrow. A most likely audience member would be Drop Outs. In life, they don’t want commitments and that is something that the show caters for. Although the show is a unusual reality show with different content in each episode, It is easy for the audience to stop watching for a period of time and then re-join the series. This is because the content in each episode is different and unique and requires very little knowledge of previous episodes to enjoy the series.Our Zoo

Our Zoo has mainstream appeal; however the Rebels are most likely an audience member. Rebels have the need in life to make the world fit in with their ideologies. The series portrays the life of George Mottershead and his family as he decides the best thing for the surrounding villages is that a zoo should be built. The episodes dramatize George’s efforts to make the villagers and the local planning council see the world from his point of view and accept that his idea of a zoo is vital for the local community. This appeals to the Rebels who can empathise with his struggles to get the world to see things from his point of view.