Mass Audience vs Fragmented

Mass Audience

• Reaches a large audience, all consuming the same text.
• Competitive.
• Main aim is to make as much profit as possible.
• In the past most texts had a mass audience, now it is harder to have and keep a mass audience due to the amount of choices and channels.
• 'Broadcast Audience' - News and information mainly
• Mainstream
• Highly regulated
• Not focused on a particular group/audience. Tries to target as many people as possible.

Fragmented Audience

• Digital technology has led to a fragmented audience.
• Aimed at a specific audience.
• Division of audience into smaller groups due to the variety of media outlets, 400 + channels with TV on the Internet as well.
• Niche audiences.

Strictly Come Dancing attracted 11, 413,000 viewers on the 17th of November 2012 that is without even adding the amount of people that watch the results (10,467,000) the next day,  from the viewing figures we could suggest that Strictly targets a mass audience however other factors such as TV schedules, the genre and who their target audience is. On Saturday Strictly is on from 6:40 to 8:00 in the evening, and on Sunday it is on from 7:20 to 8:00 (prime time TV). On Saturday the majority of families will be eating their dinner sometime during strictly, this means that they could be watching this all together at the same time, this also connotes that it is targeted at a mass audience. Due to the fact that families are likely to watch this together there is no swearing or adult themes, also the genre of the programme defines it as family friendly as it is light entertainment like the xfactor, you don't have to follow a plot or watch every week to know what is going on. Audience participation is also very important in Strictly and the Xfactor as they both have live audiences and you have to vote for your favourites every week to keep them in the show. This also invites the mass audience to watch and participate as most of the contestants or celebrities have twitter or face book so that their fans can follow them and their progress on the show. The BBC also aim to provide for everyone reinforces that they are trying to target a mass audience which seems to work as Strictly is always the top of the BBC's list of most watched programme at the moment.

Homeland is also the highest on the list of most watched programmes on channel 4 but compared to Strictly has a much lower amount of viewers (3,040,000) however the figures remain constant showing that they have a dedicated audience who watch it regularly. Homeland is a political thriller which only relates to a certain audience, also some scenes/language featured in political thrillers may not be appropriate for children therefore the audience is already fragmented in the household. It also means that there is a plot so you would have to watch regularly to know the full story or it may be confusing. Although Channel 4 televises a diverse range of television programmes they are mainly documentaries and comedies rather then reality programmes, the only one they feature is 'Tool Acdemy' which is targeted to a audience of young adults so that is not family friendly viewing either. Channel 4 also is the main channel that promotes American programmes to the English Audience, this could also be a reason that the viewing figures are lower then the Strictly come dancing viewing figures as American programmes could be seen to only really relate to the intended audience. However Homeland is featured on Sunday evenings which gives the opportunity to attract more people as there is little on television on Sunday nights and it entices people who haven't watched it before to start as it is the only thing on television that they are interested in at that moment.

Hartley and Fiske

Hartley
Outlined 7 categories used when identifying audience. He suggests that industries should clearly know who their target audience is in order to target them effectively. 

• Self - (Aspirations)
• Gender
• Age Group - (Needs and aims in life.)
• Family - (Place in family)
• Class
• Nation
• Ethnicity

Fiske
Added to the list

• Education
• Religion
• Political Allegiance
• Region
• Urban vs Rural Background (Different Values/Beliefs)

Audience positioning in Homeland

The second episode is the first time we see the title sequence of homeland it features images of Carrie sleeping as a child and adult, the music also has a jazz element to it which we know relates to Carrie's life as we have seen the posters and images of her playing the trumpet. The Sequence also features political images and images of terrorism from the past 25 - 30 years which suggests how old Carrie is and that this has all happened in her life time. When the images of 9/11 are shown the highest note is also played this suggests that everything has been a build up to this one act of terrorism and destruction. Overall the Title sequence is very abstract which attracts the audiences attention of the music and the images fit together because it creates tension but at the same time contrast each other as it is not the typical music for a political thriller.
  At the start of the second episode 'Grace' the first shot looks hazy and has a dream like feel to it this tells the audience Brody is having another flashback. We then see Brody digging a hole for Tom's body with blood and mud covering his face, suggesting that he has been badly tortured. Brody starts to sing the American royal marines song louder as the man puts the gun to his head, suggesting that he has put himself in a very dangerous position by singing this song. For a post 9/11 audience this is very uncomfortable viewing as before this would not seem like something that would happen but now, from the news and other sources the viewing public know that this is an imminent danger of going to war. This is especially emotional for people who have families involved in the war as this could be seen as a realistic expectation of war. It could be said that it affects British audience's less then American audiences because it is based around an American royal marine but it still relates to the fears of families with relatives involved in war.
  When the gun is fired at Brody's head he automatically wakes from the dream, the gun shot is very loud and even startles the audience making the audience feel sympathy for Brody and the situation he was put in due to his job. In the other flashbacks that Brody has they give the audience an in depth view to his thoughts and memories which show the truth about what happened even when he is lieing to his friends and family. However in this flashback he gets shot in the head which didn't really happen making the audience doubt whether he is a reliable character for information or not. Even though this makes the audience unsure whether to believe him or not it still gives us privileged access to his dreams and thoughts and is a powerful way of positioning the audience as it gives us a sense of closeness. His thoughts are so dark that we start to feel the trauma he has been through and it puts us in his shoes by showing us the gritty reality of war.
  When he touches his wife Jessica she automatically jumps, we then find out that he has been shouting 'Kill me' in Arabic in the night and also violently attacking Jessica without knowing even leaving blood and scars. This shows that audience that entire families are affected by the outcome of war not only the soldiers so we begin to feel sympathy for Jessica and their children as well as Brody. Brody also generally feels sorry for hurting Jessica as he doesn't realise what he is doing and can't control his actions or feelings after the situation he has recently been in. The audience and his family can also see how agitated and nervous Brody gets about the smallest things such as the phone ringing or the people outside his house.
 Immediately after everyone leaves he gets another flashback of him alone in a cell, shouting. The music used creates tension and suspense and gets louder and louder every second. It almost sounds like he or the place is being attacked. He then sits in the corner of his bedroom all day like he does in the flashback but when his wife comes back he pretends he has been busy and fine, reinforcing that he is hiding something.
  We see Saul in a gentleman's club looking at art, wearing a suit and glasses. This connotes that he is intelligent and has power over the other man. We then see that Saul is blackmailing the other man but also calls him 'Your Honour' so even though we see a darker side to Saul's personality he still acts in a professional manner. The low key lighting on his face also shows that he is showing a different side to his personality but he is doing this ultimately to look after Carrie reinforcing that he is a father figure to her.
  David and a man from the royal Marines are pressuring Mike into pushing Brody into the spotlight. We see a very different type of blackmailing here, Mike is being forced to put his friend in a difficult position which he does not want to do but his reputation and job could be on the line if he doesn't follow orders. This makes the audience immediately dislike David and the other man i and we have seen from other episodes that David is a very harsh character and doesn't get along with Carrie. David is also very sarcastic when he is talking to Carrie about protecting a woman's life, because she is a prostitute he doesn't care what happens to her and he is very unprofessional the way he talks and handles matters with Carrie.
  Chris asks his dad (Brody) what its like to kill someone whilst he is playing a video game involving violence. All of a sudden Brody turns silent and looks away from his son, this also makes the audience feel sympathy for Brody as no one understands what he has been through and the trauma he has been put through. He then reacts when he sees a photographer in his garden but punching him, this suggests that after years of being locked away he doesn't know how to act in society anymore. He also doesn't own up to his actions when questioned about them suggesting that he doesn't think he has done anything wrong. However we do see a softer side to Brody when he is talking to his son before he goes to sleep, Chris is wearing white which connotes his innocence however Brody is wearing dark colours which could show a darker side to him that we haven't seen yet.
  Ultimately the audience feels sympathetic for Brody throughout the episode grace as it seems that he now has no control over his life or his feelings. Also no one else knows what he has been through and just want him to appear as a 'Poster boy' for America whilst not thinking about his true feelings or making sure he has fully recovered first.