Target Audience.

One of the methods i learnt at AS to identify a target audience was using magazine covers and looking at readerships to understand who buys the magazine, how old they are what gender they are and what they enjoy.

I researched magazine covers with the Arctic Monkeys and i found these magazine covers:

NME Magazine



Q Magazine



To understand who buys these magazines i went to www.NRS.co.uk, they provide estimates of the number and habits of people reading newspapers and magazines. The survey of June 08' to June 09', the most recent survey, i found the following figures:

Q Mag
666,000 copies sold in total, 14Th most popular monthly general magazine in the UK.
513,000 men
153,000 women
572,000 aged 15 - 44
94,000 45+


NME Magazine
388,000 copies sold in total, 16th most popular weekly general magazine in the UK.
296,000 men
91,000 women
339,000 aged 15 - 44
49,000 aged 45+

By looking at these figures we can see that it is probable the majority are male aged 15 - 44 however it is important to note theres still a big market for males aged 45+ and females of all ages, they shouldn't be neglected.

I can now find out the demographics of people, demographics are the statistical data of a population showing income. Here is a graph from the NRS website showing how they categorise people:


I will now look and record my findings on the demographics of the readership of both Q and NME magazines.

Q Magazine:
ABC1 - 250,000
C2DE - 137,000

NME Magazines:
ABC1 - 444,000
C2DE - 222,000

We can see that generally people who buy both magazines have a larger income and lots of disposable income. Usually people in higher ranks and important jobs are more mature and clever. However again i shouldn't forget about the smaller % of audience which would be in the lower bands of the demographic chart.

Reviews

After looking into magazine covers which gave me a rough picture of who my target audience is, i should now look into reviews from critics on previous songs and music videos this will help me again find out who buys and watches the video and how i should shape mine.

here is a review from the daily telegraph's website after reviewing the band at a concert, they are talking about the lead singer and song writer of the Arctic Monkey, Alex Turner.

"He has also traded the street-level observations of old for a prettier, more adult, cryptic style of wordplay."

This tells me the band is changing their direction and helps me identify the target audience, i now know that i need use crpytic messages in my video to relate to the newer wordplay and it needs to mature for adults to enjoy.

"Alex Turner’s crew have moved beyond the dispiriting arena of action and reaction, into a zone where they’re allowed to exist simply as an excellent band, guided by sure-footed artistic vision."

This quote shows Artic Monkeys need an artistic music video this is brilliant because i had, as shown in my planning section, artistic ideas to incorporate in my video such as greyscale editting and an array of camera shots.

Fans

Furthermore to understand the bands target audience i researched their fan base and go straight to the heart of what im looking for. Firstly i hit two popular social networking sites popular with all ages of people it will give me an un-biased account of the audience.

Here are screen shots of random fans from www.facebook.com\arcticmonkeys





and heres some from www.myspace.com/arcticmonkeys





from both photos is shows young fans, mostly male which fits in however i massive point i have found from looking at this, shows that fans are from all across the world not just sheffield or the UK. My music video has to attract the mass market and mass fan base of the Arctic Monkeys. I can now start to build a target audience with the evidance i have obtained but finally just to make sure im appealing to right market i will look at the Arctic Monkeys website, ArcticMonkeys.com.




There is continuity shown between the Myspace page and their home page, same colours and graphics shown. They are shown in black and white again working well with my gray scale. The colours are bold they are not faded and they're curvy and modern, young audiences would like this. On the website it shows photos of the band playing live at concerts the audiences in the crowd look modern and young proberly of the same age as the majority of the readership of the magazines i researched earlier on the in page. It backs up from what i found when i looked at the networking sites as it shows the band are playing concerts across the world and at large venues that are sold out quickly everywhere, this shows mass appeal and i will need to relate to this in my music video.