Empire Magazine - Audience Appeals

Empire magazine appeals to both the explorer and the succeeder in the 4C’s model as the magazine gives both these audience types their core need of discovery and control. Empire attracts the explorer as they want to discover new things and gain an insight into new things, they seek information and absorb that information for not only themselves but for others as well. The explorer is smart and knowledgeable. It also appeals to the succeeder as the magazine reflects the things they want and the things they have control over, they are knowledgeable and confident in this but are always happy to learn more and have an opinion on things. The succeeder has a need for prominence and status.

One article that shows that the audience member must have a broad knowledge is an article from the 2017 Feb edition where there is a review on the TV series The Man in the High Castle: Season 2, this review says “underground film reels that somehow show it wasn’t the Nazis and Japanese who were victorious in War World War 2” this review required a knowledge of the second world war as well as an interest in historical events and someone who wants to discover how a what if scenario plays out. This allows the explorer to discover what it would have been like if the Nazis did with the world war and allows them to get their core need fulfilled by both the magazine and the TV series if they choose to watch it. However something that would appeal to the succeeder would be that the mode of address of the magazine is written as if the consumer is equal and are on the same level, yes the magazine does have more knowledge than the consumer but it is written as if they are informing them on it rather than talking down to the consumer which is what come magazines do. In addition to this the images of the magazine are high quality and are amazingly graphic for the consumer to look at and admire, this gives the succeeeder prominence.

The audience for this magazine are also seen to be in their mid-30’s, this is sown as there is an article about Trainspotting 2, “2016 would mark the original’s 20^th anniversary” showing that the audience would have grown up with the first film making them an established audience member of the magazine and would have bought the magazine to get the latest update on the second movie that was made so long after the first. However, the magazine also appeals to students who are interested in film, TV, gaming etc. such as media and or film students aged 17-18 as they will be just entering a career or looking at opportunities which could potentially involve film and or they want something of a high intellectual reading level but also something that is entertaining for some downtime and escapism. There are also many intertextual references through images and quotes that will appeal to the audience as they may get a kick out of creating the link.

Overall the content of Empire magazine appeals to many different audience types as it gives the audience what they want and fulfils their core needs.