Demographics

A common and widely used method of audience research is called demographics. This is a system that  is used to define certain groups of people in society this is done mainly by researching and categorising their jobs and lifestyle mainly  largely by the occupation that they have.It categorises the population of the UK into six clear groups and uses a lettering code to describe the individual in that groups income and job type.

 

Producers know the importance of  the demographics of their potential audience as they know  they can adapt to their product they have produced whether it be text or product to appeal to a group with well recorded  viewing habits.

For example if producers at a television company were wanting to produce a DIY programme there target audience would be C2 demographic and maybe D.

However this system does fail to aware the media producer of some important information  they may wish to know, such as each groups members  income and how much each has to budget each week.Some skilled manual workers earn the same amount every week as a teacher but they are unlikely to consume and spend their money in the same way.

Also these demographics only focus on the main earner of a household and fail to include other member of a household such as younger children who may be interested in a completely different product or text