1. Uses & Gratifications Hypodermic needle Key Concepts - Audience
L.O learn concepts and terminology connected with Media Audiences
Learn about different audience reception models
Synthesize the theories into a survey to find out more about how to categorize your audience.
Uses & Gratifications
Hypodermic needle
Starter: How can applying the theories of audience to our surveys benefit our results on this A2 course?

2. Hypodermic Needle Model
Uses & Gratifications Model
PIES
Developed by Blumler & Katz
Audiences are active in choosing media for their own ‘gratifications’ (pleasure)
Audiences are passive
Easily led, influenced & manipulated
Gullible, sheep-like fashion-followers
Media consumption influences the attitudes and behaviour of audiences
Links to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Main reasons for using media:
Personal Identity – to define who we are
(sometimes called self-surveillance)
Information
Entertainment – includes escape, distraction
Social Interaction – to help us socialise with like-minded people
Linked to propaganda & advertising
Behaviourist models of human behaviour

3. Uses and Gratifications
Read the document on the next slide which provides a full walk-through of the theory. Using the different aspects, as applied to different forms of media, write a list of all the uses and gratifications associated with: Your MAIN and ANCILLARY productions

4. Applying Theory: Taster
Which of these needs does your TV Show help you fulfill?
A popular theory of Media Audience, is Blumler & Katz’s Uses & Gratifications Theory.

5. MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
Information
Personal Identity
Social Integration
Entertainment

6. (Young & Rubicam’s 4Cs model) cross cultural consumer characterization model: PSYCHOGRAPHIC GROUPS

8. The traditional segmentation model: SOCIO-ECONOMIC GRADE

9. Market research companies often come up with other ways of segmenting audience/
consumers

10. Designing a survey
When sitting down to design an advert, advertisers will think carefully about who their target audience is using a range of different theories and frameworks. They will design surveys to capture information which relates to them, for example posing questions to deduce which of the 4Cs their potential audience relates to. YOU need to design your surveys along these lines. How?

11. Example Questions What is your occupation?
What information does this instantly give you about your audience member? In which framework(s) would you be able to position them?
Show the audience member the cover for a major publisher’s music magazine (e.g. Q) and something more edgy (e.g. NME) and get them to pick their favourite.
Now think: is the audience member ‘mainstream’ or ‘explorer’?
Rank the following in the order in which they would make you happiest: friendship, food, health, being creative, the respect of others.
Now, plot the audience member against Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs – how do they fit?

12. NME Consumer Profile
Here is a reader profile for NME. This document is updated every quarter following market audience research, and is produced for advertisers in order for them to appropriately place their brand in a magazine that is going to align itself with their target audience.
Look at this profile – what statistics/info would be of interest to a music video producer, already knowing their artist’s audience read NME?

13. Your Progress What tasks have you completed? What do you need to do?
All resources for the Advanced Portfolio are on the department blog mediastudiesnwcc.blogspot.com

14. Today’s Outcomes:
Start a bibliography/research section of your blog – use Harvard Referencing.
2. Use the ‘How to write up audience research sheet’ to complete your evaluation
of primary research.
3. Produce a detailed audience profile for your main and ancillary tasks to include:
Demographics
Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs
Uses and Gratifications
Psychographics
Socio-economic grade.
Present this as a Prezi or PPT and upload the finished item to your blog
Print one copy and give to Louise by the end of the lesson.