Media Audiences

What Media Audiences covers

Media Audiences is examined in both written papers — the theoretical framework and the media contexts run through every section of the course and are applied to whichever set products a centre has chosen. It covers how audiences are grouped and categorised, psychographics, lifestyle and cultural capital, targeting mass and specialised audiences, attracting, reaching and constructing audiences, mode of address and audience positioning, passive audience models and the effects debate, Bandura and social learning theory, Gerbner and cultivation theory, active audiences and uses and gratifications, Hall and reception theory, Jenkins, fandom and participatory culture, Shirky and the end of the audience, consumption, technology and audience measurement and audience interpretation, identity and social context.

The 14 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• How audiences are grouped and categorisedAudience categorisation, UK social grade system and target audience.Open →
• Psychographics, lifestyle and cultural capitalSome psychographic categories used in advertising and cultural capital.Open →
• Targeting mass and specialised audiencesReach of a media product and audience segmentation.Open →
• Attracting, reaching and constructing audiencesConstruction of an audience, newspaper constructing its reader and implied audience.Open →
• Mode of address and audience positioningMode of address and audience positioning.Open →
• Passive audience models and the effects debatePassive audience model, hypodermic needle model and moral panic.Open →
• Bandura and social learning theoryBandura's first key idea about the media, bandura's second key idea and bandura's third key idea.Open →
• Gerbner and cultivation theoryGerbner's first key idea, gerbner's second key idea and mean world syndrome.Open →
• Active audiences and uses and gratificationsActive audience model, uses and gratifications theory and four gratifications identified by Blumler and Katz.Open →
• Hall and reception theoryHall's first key idea, preferred reading and hall's three decoding positions.Open →
• Jenkins, fandom and participatory cultureJenkins's first key idea, jenkins's second key idea and jenkins's third key idea.Open →
• Shirky and the end of the audienceShirky's first key idea, shirky's second key idea and end of the audience.Open →
• Consumption, technology and audience measurementPatterns of consumption, second screening and binge watching.Open →
• Audience interpretation, identity and social contextSituated reading, audience identity and divided audience response.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Media Audiences further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Demographics vs Psychographics

  Demographics: a description of who an audience is, by age, gender, class and income. Psychographics: A description of an audience's attitudes, values and way of life.

• Hypodermic needle model vs Two-step flow model

  Hypodermic needle model: the model in which a message is injected directly into a passive audience. Two-step flow model: The model in which influence passes through opinion leaders before reaching most people.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is meant by audience categorisation?

   Model answer

   Categorisation is the sorting of audiences into groups that producers and advertisers can target. Age, gender, social class, lifestyle and taste are the usual criteria.

2. 2

   What are demographics?

   Model answer

   Demographics are measurable population characteristics such as age, gender, income and occupation. Advertisers buy audiences described in these terms.

3. 3

   Explain the UK social grade system.

   Model answer

   The social grade system labels households from A down to E by the occupation of the chief earner. Advertisers use the grades as a shorthand for spending power.

4. 4

   Which households are covered by the label ABC1?

   Model answer

   ABC1 covers professional, managerial and clerical households. Advertisers treat ABC1 as the higher-spending part of the market.

5. 5

   Which UK national newspaper has traditionally targeted C2DE readers?

   Model answer

   The Daily Mirror has traditionally targeted C2DE working-class readers. The Times targets a mainly ABC1 readership.

6. 6

   Why do advertisers pay more to reach some groups than others?

   Model answer

   Rates reflect the spending power and buying influence of the audience delivered. A small affluent readership can be worth more than a large low-income one.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Media Audiences revision questions

What does Media Audiences cover in Eduqas A-Level Media Studies?

14 subtopics: how audiences are grouped and categorised, psychographics, lifestyle and cultural capital, targeting mass and specialised audiences, attracting, reaching and constructing audiences, mode of address and audience positioning, passive audience models and the effects debate, bandura and social learning theory, gerbner and cultivation theory, active audiences and uses and gratifications, hall and reception theory, jenkins, fandom and participatory culture, shirky and the end of the audience, consumption, technology and audience measurement and audience interpretation, identity and social context. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Media Audiences organised?

By the Eduqas A680QS specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.