AUDIENCE RESEARCH

By Charlotte Griffin

AUDIENCE RESEARCH:

I made a questionnaire on survey monkey to find out quantitative and qualitative data about people who read music magazines.

This is what I found …

Question 1:

This survey was completed entirely online meaning that overall the audience will generally be younger. From the 18 people who responded to my questionnaire, 17 of these people were in the 16-20 age bracket. 1 person was in the 21-25 age bracket. This suggests that the main audience for magazines are people aged 16-20. I will take this on board when creating my own music magazine and aim it at this age group.

Question 2:

I asked my friends on the social media site Facebook to complete this survey knowing that most of the replies would therefore be from females. However, there are twice as many female responses as male responses, showing that more women read magazines than men.

Question 3:

From this survey it can be seen that Pop is the most popular genre of music within this sample of 18 people. The least popular is Classical , but Pop only has 3 more votes. Just because Classical music has a smaller fan base, there is still a large enough fan base to create a magazine for them. I will consider this when creating my own magazine.

Question 4:

Answers included:• ‘interviews and latest

music news’• ‘I don't, but if I did it would

be for the interviews’• ‘For event listings and

info.’• ‘Interviews, Posters,

Competitions’• ‘I want to be keeping

update with music [of the year]’

• ‘To see when my favourite bands are touring etc.’

• ‘To keep up to date with the music industry gossip’

• ‘To get up to date with current popular music’

• ‘to find out more about artists I'm starting to like’

The phrase ‘up to date’ reoccurs throughout the 17 responses for this question. I will use this feedback to make sure that the content of my magazine is modern, ‘up to date’ and relevant to today’s music lovers. Interviews are also shown to be very important features in magazines. I will consider this when creating my own magazine.

16 people gave a response to this question, half of whom would categorise themselves as working class, and the other half would categorise themselves as middle class. I will aim my magazine at both working and middle class people as it gives me a broader market.

Question 5:

Question 6:

The responses to this question are some of the most important in my questionnaire. These responses will directly effect the content of my magazine. 55.56% of replies voted that interviews are the most interesting parts of a magazine. Pictures came in second. The one person who voted ‘other’ left a comment saying all of these elements interest them. I will acknowledge this when creating my own magazine.

Question 7:

From the 7 people who do buy music magazines on a regular basis, 3 buy them monthly and 3 buy them yearly. This did not meet my expectations that the large majority would be monthly. The fact that only 1 person buys a magazine weekly, could suggest that people do not want to spend money each week on a luxury item.

Question 8:

All 4 responses with the answer of ‘other’ commented that they have never bought music magazines in the past. The most popular magazine is Kerrang!. The answers to this question will not directly effect my magazine as only the BBC Music magazine is relatable to my plans.

Question 9:

This answer just proves that all 18 people who took my survey are from England.

Answers Included:• ‘A motivated student

who hates social stereotypes and is passionate about equal rights for everybody’

• ‘Geek’• ‘Geeky. I have a part-

time job so have money to spend on things I want. I am in full time education’

• ‘Interests: Music, Shopping and films’

• ‘Cool, up to date’• ‘Bubbly, Friendly,

Cheerful, Crazy and always happy’

• ‘A fun, easy going kind of guy’

• ‘Girly’• ‘Sometimes quiet’• ‘Extroverted ,easy

going , hard working and loyal’

Question 10:

The responses to this question show two distinct type of people. The first group being ‘geeky’, ‘sometimes quiet’ and ‘easy going’. The second group is ‘motivated’, ‘passionate’, ‘up to date’ and ‘extroverted’. Both groups have features that are found in people I am going to target my magazine at.

SUMMARY:

That is the end of my audience research questionnaire. I have found that my target audience will be aged 16-20, mostly female and are an equal balance of working and middle class.

I have also gained qualitative data to learn more about the individual people rather than gather more statistics.

The information I have gained form this survey will be useful when I am creating my own music magazine.