Audience Research Summation

From my research and focus groups I have gathered quite a few things about my target demographic's media consumption:

• Such as the majority of my focus group used Instagram the most, which shows it's one of the most popular media platforms for my target demographic to use, shortly followed by Snapchat
• They also do not read or buy magazines often, this is mainly do to them being able to purchase them online but also read articles for free which is far more convenient.
• My target demographic also cares about the environment a lot and believes it is one of the biggest problems facing humanity. This could show that environment topics may be more popular but also not necessarily, though they may recognise it as a significant issue, from my questionnaire they are just as interested in my 2 chosen topics.
•  What I found when trying to purchase some current affairs magazines was how difficult they were to track down, I went to three stores and each had very few selection of current affairs magazines, they were far more stocked in beauty and editorial magazines. This could be a big contributing factor that comes into play as to why my target demographic does not purchase magazines often or at all. Moreover, this makes me more inclined to believe you have to order the large majority online and subscribe to them, this is a bad strategy as consumers aren't very likely to purchase them for a year or months in advance as it's expensive but also they do not know if they like the magazine. It would be far better to have them stocked in shops people can access such as supermarkets. 
• Their prices were also shocking, in my focus group the most given answer for the price they'd be happy to pay was between £1.90-2.90 whilst the magazines I purchased were far more, except for one.
• Private Eye - £2.00 (the cheapest)
• NewStatesman - £4.75
• The Spectator - £4.95 (the most expensive)
• Unfortunately, the difference in price affected the quality of the magazine, the Private Eye had far fewer colourful graphics and photographs and presented itself more like a broadsheet newspaper. Where as NewStatesman (a British political and cultural magazine published in London) and The Spectator were slightly more high quality, had lengthy articles but also plenty of high quality photographs to support the text.
• Therefore, for my magazine I think I will have it in a £3.00 range so it's not as expensive but still enough to have good quality photographs and layout
• I also noticed the other editorial magazines and fashion and ones that appeared like tabloids were far more eye grabbing, I will try to make my magazine as colourful and eye catching as possible
• My chosen focus group put their favourite movies but I also questioned them if they knew of other movies and they did, which means I can use a large range for my use of intertextuality.
• The majority of my focus group receive their news from other social media platforms but also the actual news channels like BBC, and therefore this could also be a reason for the low consumption of print magazines, there is such a wide range of platforms for consumers to receive information from, it is growing less likely for people to buy a weekly magazine as the news is changing every day and the internet publishes stories much faster. Which is why I think my topics are more likely to be purchased because they are a current news affair but it won't be out of date within a week. Mental health and business are topics that are always trending.

Generic Research Summation

Common codes and conventions - magazine covers

• Through the my research for my generic analysis 1,2 and 3 and previous research for mood boards and just generally looking over and analysing different front covers and websites I picked out common codes and conventions that I will look into using for my magazine.
• A common theme between magazine covers was they all possessed the magazine's name using bold distinctive with cohesive and consistent colour palettes and typography between the magazine covers and their media platforms such as their website. This was to create a strong sense of brand identity and to help with cross media convergence.
• They also had very eye catching headlines and subheadings that would intrigue the reader to read further, a common pattern was the use of puns, play on words or intertextuality which only either a  politically or culturally conscious reader would be able to interrupt. Which implies most current affairs magazines target an intellectual demographic. 
• A common theme was high quality graphics and pictures, one of my favourites was The Big Issue because the photographs of the real people usually had fun illustrations surrounding the image and anchoring the message the magazine was trying to place across. Sometimes there are illustrations drawn of different people such as politicians in a satirical manner to represent the magazine's political stance and to attract their target demographic that is of the same political leaning.
• Another common convention which may seem very minuscule but actually adds to the realistic touch of a real magazine are the pugs, things such as bar codes that add to the realistic 
• Use of body language of the models to anchor the surrounding text or article mentions. 
• How the use of make up (even something as simple as a lack of make up) and costume and hair styles all play a big part in anchoring key messages also. 
• More specifically, for my business woman front cover I will create a more serious tone through not dressing them in provocative attire and connote an assertive tone through their stance and make up.
• Common codes and conventions for websites:
• A menu bar that links all the other key articles and topics
• A bold title that is consistent in typography and colour palette as to the physical magazine covers. More often than not in sans-serif font
• A bold box that invites you to subscribe to their newsletter
• Links to other special articles that the readers might be interested in
• Top story section

Applying Theory

 R Barthes Semiology/semiotics - different codes and conventions will symbolise and connote and denote different hidden meanings. Semiotics are used in media texts, and more topic specific, magazines, to attract audiences and hook them into buying and reading the rest of the magazine.

 There are multiple ways you can use semiotics, such as through the use of different colour palettes, for example, things to do with horror usually contain red and black. Orange can be typically used around Halloween whilst green and red can also be used for Christmas festivities. 

Moreover, even things such as cultural codes, when a media text, i.e. in this case magazine cover, uses codes and conventions that only people from specific cultures or ages will understand. This is very important when trying to fully address your specific target demographic.

Enigma codes are used to attract and hold the attention of the reader by creating mystery and puzzle, intriguing the reader to delve deeper in the rest of the magazine.

Stuart Hall's Representation Theory - there are many negative stereotypes in media texts, Stuart Hall believes this occurs when there are inequalities in power or when the source that created the stereotypes does not actually have any real life experience with people from those groups, usually minority groups. In my magazine, I am hoping to challenge those negative stereotypes, I do not want my front covers to sexualise women and also portray a positive interpretation of strong role models that have mental health but are coping with them as in society they can often be labelled negatively.

Stuart Hall's Reception Theory - every audience will respond uniquely to a piece of media text because everyone interrupts certain codes and conventions differently based on their age, gender, social class etc. there are 3 different interpretations: preferred, negotiated and oppositional.  My aim is for the preferred readings to stem from my target demographic because they will have successfully understood the references and also agree with my magazine's opinion. 

Audience Research: Focus group questions

Focus Group Results

All of the candidates in my focus group fit my magazine's target demographic of 16-25 year olds who are socially conscious and middle to upmarket. I have chosen to have 2 male and 2 females to participate to help have a balanced opinion.

Candidate no.1 

Name: Phoebe Rigby

Age: 17

Occupation: In 6th form

Physcographics: explorer/reformer

Interests: movies and photography

Favourite Movie: Marvel

Favourite Inspirational person : Jameela Jamil

What they think is society's biggest problem: poverty/homelessness

Candidate no.2

Name: Noah Severwright

Age: 17

Occupation: In 6th form

Physcographics: Explorer

Interests:Art and Poetry

Favourite movie: Shawshank Redemption

Favourite Inspirational person : Longfellow

What they think is society's biggest problem: Greedy Corporations

Candidate no.3

Name: Jordan Lait
Age: 22
Occupation: Student at university
Physcographics: Reformer
Interests: Coding and gaming
Favourite movie: The Matrix
Favourite Inspirational Person: Elon Musk
What they think is society's biggest problem: Global warming




Candidate  no.4

Name: Mary Pantiru
Age:21
Occupation: Student at University
Physcographics: Reformer
Interests: Baking and reading
Favourite movie: Pirates in the Caribbean
Favourite Inspirational Person: Louise Pentland
What they think is society's biggest problem: Global Warming

The first question I asked my focus group was regarding the frequency of their usage of different social media platforms. This is because from my audience research, I found out that the print magazine industry is failing and switching more to online, and to platforms which their demographic most likely uses. Since my focus group fulfills my target demographic, it was important to receive feedback on which media platform they interact with the most. The overwhelming results were Instagram, 4 votes for Instagram and 1 for Snapchat. However this was a multiple choice question therefore someone could have put 2 media platforms they interact with the most. Here are the results:

Candidate 1:Instagram

Candidate 2: Snapchat and Instagram

Candidate 3: Instagram

Candidate 4: Instagram

The second question I asked was in reference to which media platform would they most likely find a magazine article on as it is key to know which platforms magazines have fled to online. The majority chose Snapchat, with 3 for Snapchat and 1 for Instagram. I would agree with the majority, I have definitely seen more magazines on Snapchat, more precisely Snapchat's explore page, they make the articles in forms of stories to appeal to their younger target demographic. The results were :

Candidate 1: Snapchat

Candidate 2: Snapchat

Candidate 3: Instagram

Candidate 4: Snapchat

The third question I asked was about consumer consumption of magazines to see how much my target demographic purchases print magazines. The results were not very shocking, with only one person who occasionally purchases a magazine and three who buy none at all. Although this is only 4 people, I believe it does accurately represent my target demographic because from the audience research it's clear that print sales have gone down as technology has advanced. It makes sense that a demographic who are the most in touch with technology would not buy print anymore. Moreover, it could be due to the environment, the younger generation does appear more concerned with global warming and recycling, not everyone but a large majority. Here are the results:

Candidate 1: Occasionally 

Candidate 2: None at all

Candidate 3: None at all

Candidate 4: None at all

I asked this question to get a sense of what my target demographic is willing to pay for a magazine and to compare prices to some of my generic analysis. The majority of results where 3 who voted for a range between £1.90-2.90 and with 1 vote for £2.91-3.90. Compared to the price of a magazine such as the Big Issue which is £2.50 and Time magazine which is £4.01, they prefer the cheaper ones and I think I'm most likely to price it between the lowest and medium range. Here are the results:

Candidate 1: £1.90-2.90
Candidate 2: £1.90-2.90
Candidate 3: £2.91-3.90
Candidate 4: £1.90-2.90

The fifth question I asked was to see if any of the candidates had subscriptions to any magazines. I gave 2 no options as it was important to distinguish between whether they didn't subscribe to a magazine because they could access them online or if they just don't read them at all. I think the results are conflicting because later on some say they do read them online, I think they got confused with the question and thought that I meant online subscriptions? Here are the results:

Candidate 1: No (option no.1)
Candidate 2: No (option no.1)
Candidate 3: No (option no.1)
Candidate 4: No (option no.1)

For the sixth question I wanted them to specify in more depth if they read them online and if so on what platform. Here are the results:

Candidate 1:sometimes - on magazine websites
Candidate 2: sometimes, on Snapchat
Candidate 3:I don’t read magazines online but I do view articles and links when searching google, looking at news apps and websites (e.g. BBC news)
Candidate 4: No

I asked question seven to get more ideas from the actual target demographic that are meant to be the target consumers yet the number of sales have fallen incredibly low with many magazine companies having to close.Here are the results:

Candidate 1:adapt to target a younger demographic
Candidate 2: Doesn't seem to be much advertising, maybe show how the magazine is relevant to me
Candidate 3:Give freebies.
Candidate 4:Free gifts, bundle deals or a cheaper subscription for a longer period of time (e.g. subscribe for 1 year for 20% off)

I really liked the idea about more advertising for magazine companies however I think deals and freebies would be a better solution. Moreover, making the content very demographic specific because if it showcases events that don't apply to the target demographic, they won't want to read it.





I lastly asked question 8 to decipher if my target demographic does purchase magazines, why do they? Here are the results:

Candidate 1:when i’m going on an airplane mostly, or a long journey - for entertainment
Candidate 2:none provided
Candidate 3:I’d purchase them to research or learn about a topic
Candidate 4:none provided

In conclusion, unfortunately my target demographic is not into buying magazines very often or at all, this is evident in the sales decrease over the past years. However, in my magazine I will aim to incorporate prizes and competitions, bundle deals and very interesting topics relevant to my 16-25 socially conscious middle to up market target demographic.

Audience Research: Audience behaviour

Source: https://www.journalism.co.uk/news-commentary/the-magazine-market-isn-t-dead-it-s-different/s6/a698229/

This section of the article highlights how technology has affected print magazines and how the content is the most important as it is no longer such of a high concern for customers to buy a specific magazine based on it's reputation of being elite. People can access everything online and therefore it is the actual content that will likely set you apart from the competition.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/sep/14/between-the-covers-how-the-british-fell-out-of-love-with-magazines

This article from The Guardian newspaper online argues a different standpoint, instead of the main  concerning threat being more consumers access the magazines online instead of physically buying them, it claims that actually it's social media that is one of magazine's biggest competitors as consumers are less interested in magazines and articles all together. I personally have to disagree, I think a lot of the magazines have simply transferred their content onto different platforms, such as Vogue and Beautyinsider who have stories and articles on Snapchat, even a lot of newspapers have moved their services to Snapchat also. I would also argue that social media platforms have increased their audience interactivity, many of the magazine articles have online poles for readers to participate in and also sometimes fun activities that require the reader to screenshot the story, draw something on it and share with their friends.

      The graph above shows a clear example of how much sales have decreased in print magazines over the last 15 years, I think it's no coincidence that it might have a correlation with rate of technological advancement.

Generic research: Textual Analysis 2

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Generic Research: Textual Analysis 1

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Audience Research: Feedback on Pitch

The first question I asked my classmates to answer was regarding my magazine's political stance. The majority responded neutral, regarding my two topics, successful business women and mental health I don't think it would be necessary to have a political tone but if it were needed I wouldn't be against suggesting the magazine was more left leaning.

The second question, I asked regarding one of the front covers which I thought would be around economy or something where there are successful business women and there can be a reference to an interview which would be inside the magazine (and perhaps on the website) discussing their leadership, dedication and passion which will be a positive representation of strong women (similar to the front covers of The Time, examples can be found in my mood board).The average result was 4.42 stars as can be seen above, which shows people agree with the topic being a good idea and I will take it further on.

The third question was about my second front cover which I suggested to be about mental health, and a famous person's experience about mental health to spread awareness. I got a 4.67 star response in agreement that it would be a good topic idea. I later got feedback to do an ordinary person's experience instead as it would make the reader feel like they have more in common with them which I think is also a really good idea (this will be brought up in question 7)

For the fourth question I asked for suggestions about potential prizes that could be used to reward customer loyalty, only those who purchased the actual magazine rather than read online would be able to enter. This could be in forms of hidden Easter eggs, such as on the front cover or on the spine of the magazine. I really like the the idea of a subscription to headspace (a meditation app) for the mental health front cover edition. Perhaps another prize for the other front cover, with the successful business woman, such as a chance to meet her or a chance to have a tour with the magazine. I think for the website I will also have more prizes, perhaps to promote the website there could be suggestions to the readers to check out the website to enter more competitions at the chance of winning even more.

For the fifth question, I asked for suggestions of shows surrounding mental health, this is to later on help me incorporate intertextuality into the mental health front cover edition. I will research and watch quite a few of these shows and reference them on the front cover.

For the sixth question, I asked for relevant movies to suit both of my front covers to fit my 16 - 25 demographic, similar suggestions but I will look into references from them I can incorporate into my front covers.

The first suggestion is one I think is very good, a "real" person would seem more approachable and relatable whilst a celebrity would create more awareness as people are more likely to pick up the magazine if it is a celebrity's face on the front cover. However, the second suggestion implies that they prefer real people over celebrities also, therefore I'm leaning more to not using a celebrity persona. I will also make sure to include current events as well as personal stories into my magazine to make sure it does fit the brief criteria of "current affairs magazine". The fourth suggestion is valid but I will most likely be using a male model for the mental health cover to make sure both covers can relate to a wider audience and also meet the brief's criteria (as the successful business woman cover will have a woman model).