Relivant Audience Theories

v  Audience theories

·         Uses and gratifications

·         Reception theory

·         Obstinate audience theory

           -   Active audience theory

Uses and gratification theory

This theory assumes that members of the audience are not passive, but talk an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their lives, e.g. physically buying the magazine or reading an article on the internet.

The audience is soley responsible for the media that they consume, to meet their needs.

In relation to regional magazines and newspapers, audiences choose themselves whether they involve themselves in regional based media, taking an active part of what’s going on within their community. This can result in positive and negative feedback, depending on each individual and their views on the community around them.

Reception theory

 It is likely that the less shared heritage a reader has with the artist, the less s/he will be able to recognize the intended meaning and it follows that if two readers have vastly different cultural and personal experiences , their reading of a text will vary greatly.

 The reception theory extends the uses and gratifications theory by suggesting that texts can also be chosen depending on the more unchooseable aspects of the viewer (gender, Class, Age, Ethnicity, Sexuality) and to support reasons, the background of the viewer can be a contributor to what they consume.

Obstinate Audience Theory

 'There are three decoding options to obstinate audiences and they are as follows; operating inside dominate code, applying negotiable code and substituting an oppositional code'

Giffen, 2009

  This theory assumes that there is a transactional communication between the audience and the media it takes in. it suggests that, as individuals, the audience plays a large part in the way that they influence their message to suit their own beliefs. this means that the audience is able to distort, filter or fail to recognize events that the media present, due to what they mean against their own beliefs.

  -Active Audience Theory

'Different audiences can understand a media message, but can have different responses to it. some people believe and accept the message, others reject it, using knowledge from their own experience or can use processes of logic or other rationals to criticize what is being said'

  Miller and Philo, 2001

Audience research- how audiences are targeted

v  How audiences are targeted

Audiences are often targeted via an example release of the product. Kerrang! Magazine was first published as a supplement to the music newspaper Sounds in the 1980’s, and was soon released due to the peak in purchases within the time frame that it was supplied.

  Some methods may be carried out to target the kind of audience that a company is after, such as focus groups, professional surveys and direct mail questionnaires. These can give the general baseline to where the company will want to take the product, audience wise.

The type of product you are looking for may be determined through these methods, but, as in the case of Kerrang! Magazine, a target audience may be readily available to the company. If this isn't so, and your company is in the stage of designing a product, you may have to look at a few things before hand, via primary research.

Starting questions may include:-

• ·         The gender of your audience- male/female/both?
• ·         Age of audience
• ·         Where do they live? Is this a limiting factor to your plan?
• ·        What do they do for a living?
• ·        How much money do they make? (this can contribute to the price of your product)
• ·        What other aspects of their life matter to your project?

Starting questions will give you the general basis of what your looking for, and in the case of a regional magazine, will help you create an audience specific magazine that will interest them and make them want to purchase your magazine.

Other questions you may have to encounter will be part of the secondary research, such as official statistics of other companies, how many individuals are within the area you want to apply to, and, on extending this, how many of these people are likely to actually buy your magazine? This, again through Kerrang! Had already been set due to the sales that Sounds brought in.

  Other things that company’s would need to think about are outside the general, thinking more specifically towards the individuals.

• ·         Who would influence them to buy your magazine?
• ·         Why would they buy it?
• ·         Why should they choose yours and not your competitions?
• ·         How would your customers prefer to buy

These questions would delve you into the world of marketing that would expand the degree of your consumers.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article.71816

Rowan- 1:525802958- Technology (My Chosen Brief)

Note- Many a day has passed recently that has plagued me with the anticipation (not particularly good anticipation) of creating my Advanced Portfolio blog spot. But here i am, preparing to advance on my grades. Technology has defeated me many a time to reach this feet, but i triumphed,(again, not particularly a good thing) and i am now prepared to take on my next challenge...
 ...Coursework                                                                            

My Brief

Print- The First four pages from an original regional magazine (if done as a group task, each member of the group to produce an individual edition of the magazine, following the same house style), together with two of the two of the following three options

• A radio advertisement for the magazine;
• two hyper-linked pages from the magazine's website;
• a billboard advertisement for the magazine

I have chosen this brief because i feel that i will be able to excel in the demands, and that i feel somewhat familiar with the software and equipment needed to complete these tasks, as it is similar to what i used in my Foundation Portfolio

Aim and challenges- this year, the stakes are higher, and so to create three pieces of media text this year, i will have to become more familiar with the technology included in the process, especially with the radio advertisement.