What would be the audience for your media product? E – Target Audience.
For any media product, defining the target audience is the fundamental value and procedure before making the product itself. Before production, the template of idea needs to be based upon a certain individual or subculture. This definition or stereotype of a person is vital to the products and its procedures of marketing. All advertisements in these products are specifically aimed for that target audience and predicted activities they partake in. Target audience also influences the design of the product, use of fonts and colour and what connotations are perceived by that audience. The purpose of the product again is impacted by target audience, is it to inform, to educate or to entertain. It really shows that the media and products within in the media have an audience. In this case, creating a magazine, we need to fully understand the processes of our audience, things like where they eat out, what clothes they wear, jewellery, television shows, type of language used, and opinions on society are all items to be considered, not just they’re music type.
My target audience is strongly against the mainstream hype of youth subcultures. It goes against the trends of fan-girls, hipsters and chavs. My product’s main focus is to entertain through the sounds of rock music, not through celebrity culture or aspired musical artists. The typical audience is all ranges, however, people who’d like to buy magazines to read, and it would mainly be from a young to middle aged audience. Also, due to rock ‘n’ roll folklore, the audience would be male-orientated., which is evident in my main image being of a male artist. This is further enhanced by the cover line noting several rock bands and artists, all with male members. However, the neutral colour scheme welcomes both genders.
You can’t just have a magazine that explains the music genre, you need to convey this through multiple forms. Using colour can connote different emotions and ideologies to cultures and backgrounds. For example, Goth’s are heavily associated with the colour black as it symbolises Gothic literature and death. For my media product, I went with a black, white and red colour scheme. This was to reflect my music genre of rock music. The black and white links back to the earlier origins of rock, indicating that it represents rock as a whole, not limited to sub-genres or time frames. The black and white can also convey an older aspect of my audience that it appeals to older ranges, with the electric cherry red colour reflecting aspects of a youth for an audience. Black and white colours can anchor the simplicity of the article, being professional and classy, yet easy to understand for all rock lovers.
My target audience needs to be defined by the media products that they use. My ‘ideal reader’ is of a young adult, outgoing, and enjoys listening to a wide range of rock music. They’re the type of people who enjoy eating out at takeaway joints such as KFC, Subway and McDonalds for ease. This idea is replicated in my preliminary task cover in where include a voucher for Greggs. Also, the typical man is one who loves sport. Manly stereotyped sports such as motor racing has been included in my moodboard. This reflects the style of my target audience – outgoing, adventurous and enjoy rock music.
Several music magazines have their own ‘ideal reader’, a typical buyer of the magazine, of whom have their ideologies and musical influence’s which are shared within a group, to form that target audience. Upon accessing their media kit, Kerrang’s editor, James McMahon said this upon his mission statement.
“From the younger teenage readers who are more open to different genres of rock music – from emo to thrash etc, to the readers who respect Kerrang! as an authority when it comes to our scene’s heritage bands. Each issue will include a balance of bands and scenes to guarantee that we’re providing for our readers’ need for variety and their passionate appetite for their favourite bands as well as their desire to be introduced to new music within our world. We will focus on the BIGGEST things that are going on in our world each week, as well as guaranteeing that we are giving our main base of younger readers everything they need to get into, on top of this the interest in older, harder bands.”
This reflect the wide variety of audience Kerrang has. This could explain Kerrang’s excessive, yet acceptable use of images, colour and fonts. As a result of this, Kerrang!, has become “The world’s largest weekly music magazine”.
In order to appeal to my audience, my magazine will be released every fortnight. His shows that the article’s written and the content is specially designed and catered to the audiences requirements. The time frame of how long the issue will be available will aid my target audience. As they’re out doing activities and etc., two weeks gives them ample time to purchase, read and more importantly enjoy the magazine before the next issue. I believe this structuring system is more beneficial for the magazines market and success.
I believe my audience would buy my magazine as it offers recommendations on new, obscure artists that are breaking onto the season. On the other hand, classic bands are also included to reminisce about golden olden stages of rock music and how this phenomena has evolved. It also offers the audience insights to rock music itself, the processes and the fame surrounding it. Focus on the music and instruments itself already shows where my magazines focus is at, the music, the connection with the fans (readers). The journalism type is adapted so it’s understandable of music lovers, detailed descriptions of guitars, background information on previous rock moments and stars. (Article refers to ‘Joel Oram’ to work with music producer Rick Rubin –
