TV audiences

Mainstream - An audience that consumes a product that appeals to a wide range of groups and cultures 

Niche - The audience of a specialist interest media product that may only appeal to a small number of people or those who fall within a specific demographic profile e.g Age, Ethnicity 

Narrowcasting - When you aim programmes at specific and specialised audiences as opposed to broadcasting to 'mass' audiences

BARB data - Broadcasters' Audience Research Board  - They collect viewing figures for all major UK broadcasters. 

Demographics - The way a business will split their target audiences; Age, Ethnicity, Gender, Economic status/class, Level of education, Hobbies and interests and Lifestyle choices. 

Psychographics - Profiling of audiences based on personal beliefs, values, interests and lifestyle. 

The Uses and Gratifications theory 

This theory assumes audiences actively seek out media to satisfy individual needs.

The Uses and Gratifications Theory looks to answer three questions; 

1. What do people do with the media?
2. What are their underlying motives for using said media?
3. What are the pros and cons of this individual media use?

It is split into different sections;

• To find out information
• relevant events, help with choices, general interest, self education 
• Examples; National geographic, History channel, Sky news etc. 

• Personal identities 
• Finding reinforcement for personal values, models of behaviour
• Examples; Sports, individual players, etc. 

• Entertainment 
• Escapism, relaxing, filling time, emotional release, sexual gratification
• Examples; Social media,

• Interaction and Social Interaction
• Gaining insight into others circumstances, Identifying with others, Finding a basis for conversation, ‘companionship’
• Examples; Soaps 

BARB graphs

^This graph shows that over time people are watching less TV due to websites such as Netflix becoming more popular.  Compared to 2017-2018 where the numbers increased indicating more people watching TV.

This graph shows that more and more people are watching tv and watching other shows on handheld devices, the reason for this is because it is becoming more convenient for people to access and use them compared to watching on their Tv's and computers where the numbers haven't increased much.