Target Audience
For my television soap opera I have decided that I would like to aim it at an audience of a younger generation alike to the audience of Hollyoaks. An audience of young people from a working class background I think they would be able to familiarise their own personal lives with the lives of my characters in my trailer as they would be of an age that they have overcome or are on their journey to. However, I feel that my soap should be able to appeal to all background and races so they can understand and relate to a character presented to them.
 | Audience Profile The group I am focusing my soap opera on is young people aged 13-30 years both male and female from a working class background so that most people can familiarise with the characters in some way. To the left is an example of the sort of people I feel would be the target audience image of my soap - A mix of fun outgoing young men and women that would be interested in the life of others and the way the lives of others are portrayed and how they can relate to it. |
Questionnaire for my Target Audience Questionnaire Do you watch soap operas? Yes No What is your favourite soap opera? Eastenders Coronation Street emmerdale Hollyoaks What channel do you prefer to watch? BBC1 BBC2 itv1 channel4 E4 SkyOne What time do you think is suitable for a soap to be shown? 6.00pm 6.30pm 7.00pm 7.30pm 8.00pm 8.30pm 9.00pm Where do you think is a suitable setting for a soap for young people? Town school road workplace For an audience of young people aged 13-young adults do you think the characters should be of a similar age? Yes no What sort of dramatic storylines do you think would be interesting for the viewer? Abuse relationship problems teen pregnancy homosexuality alcohol/drug addiction racisim religion |
In order to investigate the views of my target audience I have created the questionnaire to the left to hand out. From the results of my questionnaire I have found that although the group I asked were a young audience they liked EastEnders the most out all the soaps listed I found this interesting as a soap like Hollyoaks is aimed at that audience but was not as popular. What channel do you prefer to watch? From the choice of what I thought were the most popular channels I found that E4 was the most popular channel for my group of candidates. From my further research into the channel I have found that this channel is known for it's broadcasting of teen dramas like Skins which would obviously attract a younger audience. What time do you think is suitable for a soap to be shown? 6.00pm (0) 6.30pm (2) 7.00pm (3) 7.30pm (4) 8.00pm (2) 8.30pm (1) 9.00pm (0) The most popular time slot with my group was the slot of 7.30pm, I think this is a good time for a soap opera to be shown as it is at what I feel is the beginning of the television evening not too late for too rude and controversial stories associated with late nights but at a time where all audiences can catch the programme. Where do you think is a suitable setting for a soap for young people? Town (4) School (5) Road (2) Workplace (1) In terms of setting within my group the most popular choice was the School option closely followed by a Town. Looking into dramas about school's programmes such as Waterloo Road would be similar to my idea in terms of attempting to mix the two settings but majoring in the school side. For an audience of young people aged 13-young adults do you think the characters should be of a similar age? Yes (12) No (0) All my candidates agreed that the characters shown should be of a similar age to the audience. I think this is because if any occurring themes are relevant to the audience they can feel the connection to the character on screen and hold an interest in the soap. What sort of dramatic storylines do you think would be interesting for the viewer? Abuse (3) Relationship Problems (4) Teen Pregnancy (3) Homosexuality (1) Alcohol/Drug Addiction (1) Racisim (0) Religion (0) Lastly, from my choice of storylines, the most popular were Relationship Problems, Teen Pregnancy and Abuse, with a mix of extremes I think these themes could fit well into my trailer. |
To find out more about my target audience, what they like about soaps and their opinions on what I should do I held a focusgroup shown below. Overall I found that the group thought of soap operas as dramatic programmes conveying the extremities and realism of life. I also found that the whole of the group would say they like Eastenders more than other soaps becase of their dramatic storylines which has helped me to decide to ensure that my soap incorporates the dramatic elements.
I also found that my focusgroup thought that a combined mixture of home and school would be suitable for a young audience as all age groups could relate and familarise themselves with the situations on screen. When talking about who to base my characters on they felt that families should be mixed with young people creating more inventive storylines. Cliffhangers were also popular in my trailer to draw the viewer into wanting to watch the soap giving off the impression of what is to be seen.
