Target audience – ancillary

1. Target audience – Ancillary tasks Steph Webb

2. Magazines

3. Empire magazine The audience for ‘Empire’ magazine are commonly aged between 15 – 34 year olds. The readership by sex graph indicates that from Mar 2011 – June 2012, there was a higher amount of male readers than female readers. Upon looking into even further research about their target audience, I found out that in 2013, the male readers was 77% against the females. This concluded that the audience for empire is Young –> middle aged men. When looking at ‘Empire’ magazine’s existing products, it was immediately clear why their audience is mainly male. The dark and masculine colours are discouraging for the female audience members, but encourage the male audience members to buy the magazines because of the masculinity that can be seen. The strong/masculine characters on the front can also encourage the men to buy the magazine because it makes it appear more manly. The majority of their magazines are dark and aggressive, but there are also a few which have lighter colours on them (as seen on the issue of the left of the four magazine covers). Although this uses lighter and more feminine colours, having ‘Megan Fox’ on the front looking ‘sexy’ in only trousers attracts the attention of the male audience and is therefore another way to encourage the men to buy the magazine.

4. Cosmopolitan magazine Cosmopolitan's target market is 18- to 34-year-olds. The common sex that is associated with reading the cosmopolitan magazines are females. As opposed to ‘Empire’ magazine, we can immediately tell that the ‘Cosmopolitan magazine issues are targeted at females. The use of bright and ‘girly’ colours like pinks and purples demonstrates a sense of femininity compared to the darker colours in Empire magazine. By also having female celebrities on the front covers that look beautiful/sexy and are role models/admired by females worldwide, also encourages them to buy the magazines – purely for who is on the front cover.

5. Sports magazines Sports magazines have specific target audiences based on what the sport/activity is. The target audience can range from male to female but are mainly for young/middle aged people. VS. Looking at these two magazine covers, we can tell that the target audience is females. We can tell this due to the way in which the cover has been presented. Using similar bright colours and using a fitness model that is in good shape, encourages the audience to buy the magazine in the hope that they can look just like the women on the front of both of these magazines. Looking at these two magazine covers, we can tell that the target audience are males. This is due to the fact that the two sports that are being showed (American football and golf) are manly sports and are played and watched by more males. The masculine colours also attract the target audience’s attention.

6. Posters

7. Film posters Film posters have a variety of different target audiences. This is due to the fact that different genres are targeted towards different types of characters/audiences within the wider range of target audience. Film posters themselves are commonly targeted at film lovers/cinema goers as that is where they are most likely to be seen. Positioning film posters in places like cinemas is the best possible way to attract the attention of the target audience due to the fact that they enjoy watching movies because they’re at the cinema. This film poster is targeted at young females due to the fact that the genre of the film is romance and the target audiences for romance tend to be of the female sex. This film poster is targeted at those who like to watch action films. We know it is an action film due to the way in which the character is dressed and what is going on in the background. The target audience for action films are more likely to be male than female. This film poster is targeted towards those who like horrors. Much like Action films, horror films are not specific to one gender but instead target both male and females.

8. In order to support the claims that I made on the previous slide, I have found this graph that indicates the percentage of both men and women who watch action, horror and romance films. Following my claim that romance films are mainly targeted at females, this graph shows that the total percentage of women who watch romance films is 78% compared to 25% of men. In terms of action films, I stated that there their target audience is mainly males.. This graph shows the two percentages of women and men. The percentage of women who watch action films is 87% compared to men whose percentage is 119%. I stated that horror films have a target audience that are not specific to one gender. This was further proved by the graph which shows that the percentage of men who watch horror films is at 69% compared to the women’s percentage of 66%. This shows that both the genders are targeted as they enjoy watching that type of film.

9. Children’s posters It is easy to determine if a poster is subjected towards a child through the use of colours, big sized letters/words, no long pieces of writing and cartoons. When looking at the posters seen below, we can analyse them in order to confirm they’re targeted at younger people. This poster uses cartoon characters who can be seen putting recycling in the recycling bin. The cartoons attract the attention of the young children and encourage them to try to recycle. The lettering on the poster is simple and therefore effective towards the young target audience. The use of a bright yellow background makes the rest of the poster stand out. This poster contains bright colours, little wording and also cartoons to capture the attention of the young target audience. By capturing their attention, they are more likely to read the poster and obey the command seen. This poster is clearly targeted at children. We know this because of the bright colours that can be seen. The use of food that has human features such as legs and arms also indicates a sense of childishness. The fact that there isn’t much writing shown and simple writing tells us that the target audience is young.

10. Female VS. male posters VS. When looking at the two posters above, we can immediately tell that the are targeted towards the female audience. This is due to the fact that the colours that have been used are feminine – pinks and light blues. The fact that the subject itself is based on clothing, also indicates that the target audience is females due to the connection with fashion. The flower decorations and patterns can also be associated with being feminine which is another reason why the posters are targeted towards the female audience rather than the males. When looking at the posters that can be seen below, we can clearly tell that these posters are targeted at the male audience. We can tell this due to the fact that both posters are based on gaming – which is commonly associated with the male side. The colours also indicate a sense of masculinity compared to the other two posters because they use darker colours which makes them look more aggressive and manly. The fact that they are gaming posters tells us immediately that they are not targeted at females because it is not something that is common for the majority of females.