Audience Profiling - Component 1

Part of marketing is to identify your target audience - only then can marketers develop strategies on how to target them with. 

Once way of identifying audience is breaking them down into demographic groups.

One established way was developed by the UK National Readership Survey - called NRS Social Grades.

Social grade is a classification system based on occupation. Income is not part of the social grade classification. However there is a strong correlation between income and social grade as the following chart shows.

The grades are often grouped into ABC1 and C2DE; these are taken to equate to middle class and working class, respectively. Only around 2% of the UK population is identified as upper class, and this group is not separated by the classification scheme.

How does this help me understand my target audience for my film?
 
Pearl and Dean sell advertising space for UK cinema (the adverts you see before a film). In order to inform their customers (potential advertisers) where to place their advert they analyse a potential movie going audience base on audiences of similar movies.
 
They analyse the audience in terms of gender, social grade and age. This gives them different GAPs (Guaranteed Audience Package) for potential buyers. This means they can filter our all other films that are not suitable for their target audience and only pay for the relevant ones.
E.g. Sure for Women would pay for the GAP Female package.
 

https://business.pearlanddean.com/films/

Here are examples of pearl and dean analyses of various thriller films:

BFI (British Film Institute) SURVEY INTO TYPES OF AUDIENCES

Mainstream 

􀂃 At their most extreme, they focus on either clearly romantic or action-based mainstream films. 

􀂃 They are particularly drawn to films that are recognised as ‘big films’ or blockbusters. 

􀂃 Very unlikely to seek out ‘foreign’ films. 

􀂃 Film acts as an antidote to their everyday lives – escapism is a central driver of their reason to visit a cinema. 

􀂃 Tend to be rejecters of specialised film. 

 

 

Mainstream plus 

􀂃 Because they are principally looking for ‘good’ films (without breaking them down into categories), and because their cinema attendance can be as infrequent as once a month, they will usually find a mainstream film that satisfies their demand for ‘something good’. 

􀂃 However, a less mainstream film that has earned itself the status of a ‘must-see’ can appeal to them over and above mainstream fare, and can become their first choice for a visit. 

􀂃 They tend to stick to mainstream repertoire. However, they can be lured into seeing specialised films now and again. These films will typically be American/English, offbeat but upbeat, accessible and with a familiar cast (e.g. About Schmidt). 

 

Aficionados 

􀂃 Aficionados are more likely than Mainstream Plus audiences to think of ‘specialised films’ as a category in their own right. 

􀂃 They like to portray themselves as more discerning than other film-goers, to the extent of describing themselves as ‘anti-Hollywood’- even though they still predominantly see mainstream American films. 

􀂃 Compared to Mainstream types, Aficionados are more likely to make an effort to seek out specialised films that have caught their attention. 

􀂃 Aficionados will see all the same specialised films as Mainstream Plus audiences, as well as specialised films that are foreign, more thought-provoking and have unfamiliar casts. They are still likely to reject the more extreme examples of specialised material. 

 

Film avids 

􀂃 Film avids have their identity strongly bound up in film. 

􀂃 They express a strong liking for films that do not fit neatly into any genre. 

􀂃 Their love of cinema extends to the point where they are not merely interested in the film itself, but like to read and gain knowledge of the subject. 

􀂃 The language used by film avids tends to be more sophisticated, analytical and thoughtful than that used by other types. 

􀂃 They plan their viewing much further in advance than other filmgoers. 

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􀂃 They enjoy and indeed may even prefer going to the cinema on their own. 

􀂃 They use a greater variety of sources to find out what’s on and will make a trip specifically in order to go to the cinema. 

􀂃 They often go more than once to see the same film. 

􀂃 They will see mainstream films for different reasons than other audiences (e.g. to appreciate the special effects in The Matrix). 

Target Audience Analysis

Men (2022) is a thriller that is categorised with the same sub genre that my coursework film is categorised with: psychological thriller. Therefore, the target audience for Men is likely to be similar to my film opening.

This is Pearl & Dean's analysis of this film's target audience:

https://business.pearlanddean.com/films/men/ 

I further analysed this target audience, and noted down likely reasons:

I then researched and found statistics of film audiences and their individual behaviours, from Wide Eye Media - an Irish advertising company. I used the presentations of statistics they created that fit the age, class, and gender of my target audience, to help me understand my audience profile more in detail. 

Then, I went to Audience Finder - a service provided by The Audience Agency and funding by public arts institutions in the UK (Creative Scotland, The Arts Council, Arts Council of Wales) that provides me with more information about my audience profile. The service has created 10 different types of audiences and the option that fit my audience the most accurately was the Experience Seekers option.

I also looked at The British Film Institute's exit polls, which are surveys that cinemagoers answer, talking about themselves and what motivated them to see a film. Exit polls help film distributors improve their methods of film distribution and promotion, with the intention of attracting a bigger audience.

I needed to find an exit poll of a film similar to mine to analyse, in order for me to understand my audience more clearly. So, I found another psychological thriller example to study: Sightseers (2012)

With all this information, I have come to a conclusion about who my target audience is:

My target audience is mostly male, and in the higher 50% of the NRS social grade range. The most popular age range in this target audience is between 25-34 years old.

 

Majority of my target audience are cinemagoers.

 

Most of them also like to watch light television.

 

My target audience is more engaged watching advertisements in a cinema than online or on live television; they are typically less distracted and enjoy seeing ads more in that the cinemas. 

My target audience's interest in films include: blockbuster action family movies with music and some humour. 

 

Majority of my target audience are more engaged, attentive, excited, and happy to consume media through watching it in a cinema as compared to on the internet.

My target audience lives around city centres, and can easily access cinemas.

 

Most of my target audience also usually intend to watch a film to be able to watch and talk about it with their friends and family. This means that they can be attracted to and willing to watch unconventional entertainment to fit in.

 

Most of my target audience believes that the cinema is the best option to use to watch a movie; they enjoy the experience the most compared to alternatives.

 

My target audience is able to enjoy the film despite elements of the characters not being explained, because they can understand that it may not be important to the story. Because of the unexplained information, this leaves some ambiguity around the characters. This allows my target audience to be an active audience with different interpretations of the characters.

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Using all the information about my target audience, I have created an audience profile (in the form of a Tinder dating profile) - the most typical person who would view my film. The profile includes the features of a typical viewer of my film - the age, class, gender, and personality.