Aspect of theory to do with audience

Maslow's hierarchy of need

Maslow created a Hierarchy of needs (shown left) He believed it showed what people wanted from their job. He thought everyone starts as the bottom and works their way up to the top. The basic human needs such as food and shelter are represented at the bottom of the pyramid and the higher you go, the more luxury items. This is where my music magazine comes into relation with the hierarchy. My music magazine would be at the top of the pyramid as it is not a necessity to survive and would be seen as quite a luxury item for some consumers.

The triangle splits into:

- Self actualisation - fulfilment - learning new skills, challenges etc.

- Esteem needs - recognition of achievement.

- Social needs - frienship, contact - communication.

- Safety needs - job security and safety.

- Physical needs - ability to pay for food and shelter.

The main problem with Maslow's theory is that different people have different needs and not everyone will fit the same pattern.

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Uses and gratification theory

The theory is a reaction to traditional mass communication research emphasizing the sender and the message, stressing the active audience and user instead. Psychological orientation taking needs, motives and gratifications of media users as the main point of departure.

Uses and gratificatiom theory attempts to explain the uses and functioms of the media for individuals, groups and society in general. There are three objectives in developing uses and gratification theory:

1) to explain how individuals use mass communication to gratify their needs. 'What do people do with the media'.

2) to discover underlying motives for individuals' media use.

3) to identify the postive and the negative consequences of individual media use. At the core of uses and gratification theory like the assumption that audience members actively seek out the mass media to satisfy individual needs.

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Audience Demographics

Demographics refer to the charactersitics of the human population and population segements, especially when used to identify consumer markets. Demographics regard socio-economic factors such as age, income, sex, occupation, education, etc. Audience demographics are a very important aspect of media planning in matching the media with the market as industries/companies often define their target market in terms of demographics. For companies, identifying the demographic groups that will be most interested in their product, can mean the difference between success and failure.

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Audience Profiling

Audience profiling is a detailed description of consumers charactersitics (demographics) and there attitude and behaviour (pschographics) toward products. This allows a company to make the best decisions regarding their customers and the best marketing strategies to sell their product or service. Audience profiling allows a company to communicate and get involved with their target audience in an effective and sucessful way.