- 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.
- 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.
Some good points here, but try to get even deeper with your analysis; you mention how important Twitter/social networking is to the audience positioning, but some examples would have helped illustrate your point.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget to analyse that audience participation on the show itself - look at the ways in which the audience are IN the show itself (live audience, they are on-screen and sometimes get to wave, they boo and hiss like a panto) and how crucial Bruce and Tess are to this process. There are common conventions of a reality TV show.
How does Channel 4 appeal to fragmented audiences? As an institution it is more fragmented than BBC - it schedules its programming across its sister channels - each one with its own identity and audience. What does it say about Homeland that it gets broadcast on the parent station?
perhaps a short conclusion might have allowed you to reflect on the different approaches to audience, here.
You show a sound understanding, but need more examples.
RWA