Description of your target audience

The age range for this documentary is fairly specific because football is conventionally a young person’s sport but does consist of factors the older generation may find interesting. The age range we would set it at is 18 – 45, this covers both generations and both generations would find it satisfying due to the visuals of fans and archive footage provided. With this age range Richard Dyer’s Utopian Solutions Theory can come into play, it suggests audiences use the media to experience perfection they can’t get from their real lives. In this case, for the younger generation, the problem of boredom and detachment are solved by excitement and entertainment; this is exactly what our documentary consists of due to the various camera angles and interesting visuals of football. In terms of the older generation, the archive footage may fascinate them because it can spark memories. In relation to the Utopian theory, there ever searching quest for knowledge will be fulfilled through the use of this factual based archive footage. Therefore, this age range is suited to our documentary and will be part of our psychographic.

The gender selected for this documentary is majority male dominated as football and tribal warfare could be considered generic conventions of male individuals – whether both aspects apply or just the one. This primary audience are indeed active as they will interact with the documentary and the engagement behind it will be down to the incredible visuals. Also, the reason why the primary audience is male is because they’re less likely to be a passive audience whereby they sit back and relax. That is not what the documentary is aiming to do, instead it aims to achieve the audience being positioned in order to interpret a particular situation, such as: the differences in the two tribes.  The secondary audience is female as there are female football fans out there. However, stereotypically females don’t enjoy playing or following football; thus why they’re our secondary target audience.

The social demographic refers to which category of class do you fall under. Conventionally, football tribes could also be known as a group of hooligans. In order to attract this demographic, as it would relate to them the most and this particular demographic can not only empathise but also sympathise too with the characterisations involved in our documentary. Moreover, to aid our categorisation of social demographic, it would be useful to identify and establish particular theories in order to gain a more elaborate understanding. Take Young and Rubicam’s Audience Classification System, in which it classifies demographics by their personalities and behaviours – exactly what you need to classify social demographics to specific documentary genre. According to Young and Rubicam’s theory, the social demographic will correspond with the ‘Struggler’ and ‘Mainstream’ categories. As a result, the social demographic for our documentary will be classified as C2, D and E. This establishment of our social demographic is purely going on stereotypical factors. Although this is true to some extent, it doesn’t only apply for the lower classes; in fact city dwellers and urbanites who earn big money are classed as your As, Bs and C1s regarding social demographic. This is again another secondary or even tertiary target audience that follow football to the letter and feel alive when they’re part of this tribal warfare that takes place during some games. This is the beauty of our documentary that it can potentially apply to all social demographics. It makes it that all bit more interesting.

Our target audience’s occupation can remain a dominating factor when considering our demographic. As occupation links heavily in with social demographic and class, it is fair to say that all our audiences can work anywhere. However, conventional audiences that would entertain the thought of watching our documentary could have an occupation in the secondary sector of industrialism. Furthermore, according to Blumler & Katz’s Uses and Gratification theory active audiences watch media for particular purposes or ‘functions’. Some of these functions that may encourage our demographic to watch our documentary is the feeling of ‘Escapism’ – they could be searching for way to escape their everyday lives and searching for a way to escape their occupation. In addition, the target audience may watch our documentary for the function of ‘entertainment’ or ‘education & information’ in order to satisfy their needs. Therefore, our target audience’s occupation is extremely significant and must be considered with great care.

The hobbies of our demographic must not be overlooked. Hobbies may include, playing or watching the football, sporting activities, watching television, gambling and drinking etc. These hobbies may have a direct impact on whether or not our demographic is active, passive or both. Thus why we need to consider all aspects of hobbies and don’t eliminate any possibilities. Resulting in us creating a documentary for all to enjoy.

The style of the audience has been briefly mentioned when I used the phrase ‘city dwellers’ and ‘urbanites’ connoting they’re desirable, ambitious and most of all passionate about what they believe in. On the other hand, manual workers and labourers who aren’t as prestigious as the other end of the spectrum in terms of demographic; but all the same will enjoy our documentary as it appeals to all styles.

Finally the media grouping also comes into play when considering your target audience for your documentary. Favourite films may include classics like Scarface, Good Fellows, The Taxi Driver, The Italian Job, Fist Full of Dollars to more contemporary films like family favourites. The television element of the media grouping could consist of programmes like, Match Of The Day and continuous series such as The Apprentice. Favourite music can be categorised through genre and preferable genre from our demographic could be anything from Classical and Country to Rock and Pop. Media groupings are incredibly important when describing your target audience as they provide a hidden insight to your audience, which may reveal connotations you need to adapt in order for your documentary to be a success!

Done by Paris Cowley.