Evaluation Draft

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

 The audience for my media product will be mostly females however there will also be significant mix of both genders as there is not a clear specific aspect of my magazine that will only be aimed for females (for example, I have used a main neutral colour scheme, avoiding stereotypical girl colours like pink). More statistically, around 60% of my audience will be females so the other 40% will be males. My audience will also consist of young adults around the ages 17-28; making the target age 22. I feel people around this age will still display a strong interest towards current music, especially based around the indie genre. Older teenagers will be at the perfect age to attend indie music festivals and gigs with their friends as this is seen as a popular social event. Young adults may also see this as a typical social activity therefore including a gig listing sell line on my front cover will prove to be very effective in attracting these types of people. The majority of my audience will also have jobs – this is clear on their age and also their social class. My audience will be of a lower middle class if they are indeed a student or working class as they may have apprenticeships or a part time job as a shop assistant for example, therefore they will able to buy their own music in the form of CDs or online.  

 According to research, it is clear this particular age group use the internet and more specifically certain social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter as a huge part of their daily lives. Whether this is to do work, catch up with friends or indeed listen to their favourite music; young adults rely on the internet for almost anything. Taking this into account, throughout my magazine I have included opportunities to get involved with my own magazine via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social media sites that are easy to access on a wide range of gadgets. As these sites are available on phones and on tablets as apps, they are necessary to include in my magazine as my target audience will mostly likely own one of this devices and use them on a daily basis.

 For my magazine, I have also used a female model for my main article including my front cover to appeal to both genders therefore attracting my specific target audience. My model will appeal to females as she can be seen as a role model or inspiration. The female side of my audience may aspire to be like her by following her fashion trends such as the way she looks or the type of music she produces. However, the male side will find her attractive, again a persuasive tool to get my audience to read and purchase my product. This again supports my idea of my target audience not being gender specific as my model is advertised for both genders.

 In terms of psychographics (meaning the attitudes and aspirations of the people who read and purchase my magazine), my audience will consist of mainly individualists. Although my magazine will present and give off an edgy style to my consumers, concluding that people who go on to buy my magazine will have an different and unique style – especially in fashion and in the music industry, some of my audience may also belong to the mainstreamers and conformists group. Of course, most of my target audience will include people of this particular individual lifestyle as they are interested in new bands, particularly bands that are yet unheard of and want to stand out from the crowd. They may do this through the clothes they wear or the alternative music they listen to, yet many of these people may also buy from well-known brands and keep up with popular trends. Taking this into account, some of my target audience will be mainstreamers and in some ways this is hard to avoid as statistics show 40% of consumers make up this category. Overall, it is clear my target audience enjoy wearing quirky and original pieces of clothing but they may still like to keep up with fashion and trends.

 I have already mentioned some of the social habits and activities my audience may go ahead with, such as attending gigs and festivals. More of these social habits may include shopping with mates (this focuses mainly on girls) to use their own earned money to buy the latest and most stylish clothes. My audience may go on to buy unusual yet fashionable clothes as a way of expressing their individual style. Obviously, most of my audience will spend most of their time either at college or University. It may be clear that they take an interest in fashion through the creative subjects they study or they may take subjects that link to music if they are truly passionate about the industry. Whether my audience is male or female, they will both care strongly about their appearance therefore including a stylish model for my magazine was appropriate.

 My audience will also enjoy buying merchandise- this may be purchased at concerts they attend or even on the web. As I have mentioned before, the internet is hugely popular within the age range of my target audience. Even though this is true, I personally believe my audience will still prefer to buy merchandise from their favourite bands and artists at shows they attend as this will mean more to them and remind them of their day out.  Therefore I will not include websites for merchandise in my magazine and instead provide reviews to help them decide on which gigs to attend so can buy their products there as well as seeing their artist live. 

(I will discuss the use of reviews in more detail in the next question of the evaluation)