Page 26 knowledge check questions Sagar Gautam

Page 26 knowledge check questions Sagar Gautam1. Describe the two main forms of research undertaken by media industries:

The two main forms of research are broken down into Market research and Production research. Market research is the collection and analysis of information within a market for specific products, market research mainly involves looking at statistical data for audience size for a product and what specific class or type of people are interested in that product and it also looks at how much potentially an audience knows about that product or service including their personal opinions and thoughts of the product. Market research is significantly important to companies and its rivalries, as there is a very competitive market out there; an example for this is Coke Zero and Pepsi Max. These two products I have looked at and carried out a swot analysis in my presentation, which is very similar to what the actual companies themselves do. Coke Zero was a product released in order to contradict Pepsi Max as Diet Coke was aimed at female demographics for a dietary drink, whereas Pepsi Max did not have a specific target audience meaning it appeals to both genders. This caused Coke to recreate a more masculine product to appeal to more males therefore expanding their target audience resulting in more profit. I found market research very valuable and reliable in my work as my chosen product was Pepsi Max; and the swot analysis has contributed me to making a decision of what exact soft drink I want to advertise. Many advertising companies own market research companies to either outsource the information or use the information themselves; simply due to the fact that the information provided by market research is very important and can decide how successful your product will actually be. An example of a conglomerate company is WPP who is owned by Martin Somell; someone like this owns their own subsidiaries market research companies.Production research is research that will guide you to knowing the production of the product it self. As I had said before I had chosen to make a commercial for Pepsi Max however I had many initial ideas in which type of Pepsi max to advertise, for instance I could of advertised a limited special edition Pepsi max which would of increased target audience as it is a new flavour and will intrigue those who are ambitious to try new flavours, however feasibility wise it was really difficult to get that special edition flavour in the time period of me planning my commercial, and if it was possible to get it would not be normal retail price and be a lot more expensive because it was not actually around in retail shops at the time; resulting in me not having the budget to even afford the props of the ad as my initial idea for my advert was to use many Pepsi cans, therefore through production research I concluded that using normal Pepsi max and buying in bulk quantities will meet my budget requirements. I think production research is very valuable and useful feasibility wise if someone was to go and try sell a product to the world2. State the full name of the following research organisations and explain what each organisation does and give examples:

a) BARB stands for broadcasters audience research board.

b) BARB was set up to provide quantitive data to other subscribers about the standard television audience measurement service for broadcasters and the advertising industry. BARB collects their data and calculate measurements by putting reporting panels in 5100 homes which is estimated around 11,500 people and record exactly what programme they are watching and how long for. The reporting panel placed in homes are stratified and chosen to represent a large quantity of audience. BARBs example of research data, which is taken from the table below shows that in January and February 2007 60% of people; were not watching terrestrial television according to BARB. As a media student this is very important to me as it tells me that this channel does not have a huge range of audience as not many people are viewing the channels meaning advertising wont get far in channels like these. This would be an issue for people who are providing a commercial is a major issue as the audience is a narrow cast set of audience which means I therefore need to make more then one version of a commercial in order to target the right audience. Here is actual data from BARB: But it is only to some extent on how much you can trust statistic data. I fail to understand how this small sample of people can reflect the nation, which consists of over 60 million people. Stratified sampling is not very reliable and 100% accurate. These small numbers do fail to reflect particular classes and diverse age, gender and other things such as religion. However it does provide a basic account and estimation of qualitive data of how many people you are dealing with when choosing to advertise on a specific programme which is useful to some extent.

a) NRS stands for National Readership Survey. NRS measures the average number of readers per issue in national newspapers. It proves an estimate number of readers who fall under the terms of sex, age, nationality and many other demographic lifestyle characteristics.

b) NRS provides quantitive data, here is an example of the data they provide: a) ABC- stands for Audit Bureau of Circulation it is a retail media agency which provides advertises with access to millions of consumers via digital networks and traditional POS solutions. They manage and uphold standards which reflect media industry needs and how the media industry data is reported.b) ABC provide quantitive and qualitive data of how magazines are obtained here is an example of their research: how does this reflect the nation if the nation has more then 60 million

sample size in one, multi task in the other, news paper one of how many are bought/read online

does these numbers reflect the diverse age, gender, religion?

How do they work out their data/ what strategy do they use to gather info and then strengths and weaknesses of their method why/what for isit successful?

a) RAJAR -RAJAR stands for radio joint audience research - it is in charge of measuring radio audiences in the uk. it is a company which is jointly owned by the BBC and the RadioCentre. RAJAR also provides quantitive data on thier website.

b) here is an example of the quantitive data RAJAR provide: 3. Describe the different ways in which a media audience can be segmented:

Audience segmentation is an easy way for the media to individually target different audiences, the most common segmentations are: age, gender, culture and ethnicity and income and social class.

4. Explain the importance of advertising to media production:

Advertising is a vital role in media production as its one of the main ways of getting your product known out there, advertising is heavily used in this generation that more people are resistant to actually paying attention to adverts. So in this case advertising needs to be more eye catching and targeting specific audiences that relate to your product in this case your most likely to have someone be interested into your product rather then trying to make everyone your target audience because thats not possible as everyone does not have the same interests in things. Without advertising your company or product will not make any money at all, meaning youll just loose profit and gain nothing!5. Summarise the role of a researcher:

The ultimate goal for a researched is to find out background information about the themes for a particular show, they need to gather potential information which relates to the show this would include arranging interviews with people whom are about to go on the show to see if they qualify for the shows characteristics and overview their storys and how they can relate to the show6. Explain using clear examples, how the viability of a media product can be assessed:

The viability for a media example can be assessed on financial stableness, the right equipment and time to produce this product and the necessary skills and support to make this product. Overall it is about how organised and determined someone is to make their product work in the industry, for example if I was to make a new soap bar which also washes hair like shampoo instantly I would need to know how much it costs to acquire the ingredients for this soap bar, I then need to know if I have this money and support/technology to go out and make this soap bar aswell as acknowledging if I have enough time, then of course ultimately I will need to know if the product is viable and will be used out there in public.

7. What is a SWOT analysis?

A SWOT analysis is an analysis of a product that is broken down into 4 stages, which are; strengths, weaknesses, opportunities to expand target audience and threats that you may overcome. Doing a swot analysis on a product ultimately shows you have gone out and looked at all the possible variables that can effect in you making this product successful.

8. Explain what the term copy right means and why it is an important factor in media production:

Copyright is a form of property which cannot be used unless you have permission from the owner of this copyright. You can buy and sell copyright laws aswell as working in a partnership with another company with your copyrights. It is an important factor in media production as no mater how primary researched your product is, there will always be that chance where you at some point need to access someone elses copyrighted work (for example a song) and for you to go out and use this in relation with your product you need to ask for permission from the company that owns that song, usually if your lucky they will allow it say for example its for educational use, however if its for a profitable use they will most likely charge you money to use it, if you dont pay you wont be able to use it, and if you use it without permission you can get sued a lot of money!