It is vital for advertisers to study their audiences so that they are able to understand what it is they would enjoy watching. Advertisers need to firstly know what type of audience they are looking to aim their advertisement to like if their advertising a Cinderella programme on Sky Sports news. This wouldn't be a good way to advertise because as a sports channel, many men would watch it there-for their Cinderella advertisement wouldn't get any one watching it because of where they are advertising the programme. Where as if it were to be advertised on a child's channel for instance, more children would want to watch it.
There are specific advertisements which require them to divide the public and label them in a certain way. These can sometimes effect the audience and their opinion of it which can cause some disagreements as well. Here are some examples of how the audience are divided and can be labelled in different ways:
- Standard Occupational Classification - The Standard Occupational Classification system is a United States government system of classifying occupations. It is mainly used by the U.S federal government agencies collecting occupational data, and enabling comparison of occupations across data sets.
- Psychographics - This is the study of a personality, value, attitudes, interests and lifestyles. This gives the advertisers the chance to look into debt of what it is their audience may want to watch or what may attract them individually.
- Geodemographics - The Geodemorgrapihcs is the study of the population and its characteristics. This will help define the consumers neighbourhood and grouping them according to demorgraphic variables, such as income, age, and identified by geographic variables. By this process taking place it means that people who live in the same neighbourhood are more likely to buy the same products and will most likely be place in the same category.
- Age - Many advertisements have specific adverts which are aimed at a particular age group. Having this introduced into advertising splits consumers letting them know what is appropriate for young children or not.
- Gender - Gender can sometimes be too clear on what a male/female would be expected to buy. This leads to gender advertisements sometimes being stereotypical as well as having the cultural ideals and stereotypes of masculinity and femininity of society. This can create most problems for advertisers because many people who don't agree with such cultural ideals, will go against something like this being shown on TV.
Why is it useful to be able to identify certain sections of the audiences when carrying out market research?
It is vital that the audiences can be identified in specific sections when carrying out a market research. Marketers need to be able to understand their audiences and what it is they are willing to promote. For instance, using psychographics would improve the possibility of getting to know the audience more better for their market research. We already know that psychographics focuses on personality, attitude, value, interests and lifestyles, so having marketers taking this into consideration would show that they can finally connect and interact with their audience in a easier and wider range.
This also allows them to look into the market much easier as they have split up their audiences physical interests.
It is vital that the audiences can be identified in specific sections when carrying out a market research. Marketers need to be able to understand their audiences and what it is they are willing to promote. For instance, using psychographics would improve the possibility of getting to know the audience more better for their market research. We already know that psychographics focuses on personality, attitude, value, interests and lifestyles, so having marketers taking this into consideration would show that they can finally connect and interact with their audience in a easier and wider range.
This also allows them to look into the market much easier as they have split up their audiences physical interests.
What is BARB?
BARB is an acronym for broadcasters' Audience Research Board. It was set up in 1981 to provide the industry standard television audience measurement service for broadcasters and the advertising industry. BARB is owned by BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BSkyB and the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) and for profit company limited by guaranteed.
What is an Audience Measurement Panel and what are it's pros and cons?
An Audience Measurement Panel is the measurement of the audience. This relates to radio listner-ship, television viewer-ship along with newspaper and magazine readership. This benefits broadcasters and advertisers as is determines who is listening rather than how many people are listening. The advantage with this process is that it is simple and easy for these broadcasters and advertisers as panels are a good option for measuring large sites with national audiences and also panel participates can provide demographical data. However, there are some disadvantages. The size and the diversity of the panel is imperative for accurate numbers also panels may not track traffic from many of the new mobile devices.
How information is gathered.
Presently, the BARB just about have 5,000 home (equating to approximately 11,500 individuals) taking part in the panel. This BARB box records the programmes the audience watch, whilst the panelists direct whoever is in the room watching by simply pressing a remote control or handset. To begin with gathering the information, the data are collected overnight and published as overnight ratings at about 9;30 pm the following morning for the use of TV stations and the advertising industry.
Once the data has been put forward, in the following week, the final figures are released. These re a combination of the overnight figures with "time shift" figures. This is when people record a programme and watch it within a week. As a result of this a total UK population of 58,789,194, according to the 2001 census. In addition to that each viewer with a BARB reporting box represents over 5,000 people.
