Primary Research - Audience
Hayley McCarthy
Q1
The majority of people surveyed were females at 71%, with males being in a minority of 29%. This will allow me to see information by gender, and to determine any differences between answers.
Q2
Initially, I intended for my target audience to be between 16-21, as I have the most knowledge about this age group. Also, I can then use my peers to assess my work and gain feedback on certain areas. Because of this, I decided to aim my questionnaire at this age group, resulting in a majority 46%. I shall filter these results to see why they’re interested in music magazines.
Q3
Evidently, technology plays a clear part in all those who were surveyed, with no people claiming that they ‘didn’t own any of these electronic devices’. With 74% owning a laptop and 68% owning a smartphone, an online version of the publication could be an area to explore. Also, interactive content such as QR codes and Shazam could be integrated into a print version.
Q3
Filtered to show only target audience’s answers Filtering this question to only show those in the 16-21 age bracket showed a similar pattern, with 80% owning a smartphone and a laptop, again reiterating possible interactive or online content.
Q4
Social networking is very important for any brand. Advertising opportunities as well as connecting with the audience make the online platforms accessible tools. A large 73% use Facebook, and quite surprisingly just 42% use Twitter. Above this, Tumblr - an online blogging platform - has 62% of users, more than Twitter’s 42%. Generally, brands feature on Facebook and Twitter, but considering the popularity of Tumblr, I believe this is a platform to be utilised in the same fashion.
Q4
Filtered to show only target audiences answers Filtering this question to only show those in the 16-21 age bracket increased Twitters popularity to 56%, which still left it in third place behind Tumblr (63%) and Facebook (82%). MySpace did not receive any of the 46 votes, so this platform will not be used.
Q5
Filtered to show only target audiences answers Quite surprisingly, a majority of 39% of 16-21 year olds surveyed state that they listen to music for more than 5 hours per day. Considering that most would be in education for around 6 hours per day, this is a large commitment in their lives. Such long listening times denotes an interest in music, and such interest needs to be highlighted within my publication.
Q6
Before conducting this survey, I was inspired by my primary research and publication analyses to choose a genre such as rock or alternative rock. Happily, the majority of those questioned at 77% voted rock the most popular genre, with pop music coming second with 72% and alternative coming third with 61%.
Q6
Filtered to show only target audiences answers When filtering the answers to 16-21 year old’s responses, rock remained the most popular genre at 86%. Whilst pop still remained second at 65%, alternative was just 2% behind at 63%. Clearly these genres are popular, and I will construct my magazine to cater for alternative rock, perhaps swaying into pop rock also.
Q7
Filtered to show only target audiences answers Considering that the majority (39%) of my target audience (16-21 year olds) listen to music for more than 5 hours a day, music is clearly a large part of their lives. However the majority of those questioned do not read music magazines, with only 30% stating that they do read music magazines. Clearly, music magazines are not sparking an interest with the young readers, so I believe that I need to find out what they are interested in more to entice them into buying or reading my music magazine.
Q8
Filtered to show only target audiences answers At an equal 35%, readers purchase music magazines either once a week or monthly. The circulation of publication dictates the use of paper, with more expensive glossy paper not likely used for weekly publications due to costs. Personally, I would prefer my music magazine to be carefully considered and full of content, so a monthly release seems more likely.
Q9
Filtered to show only target audiences answers Evidently, the most popular price paid for music magazines is less than £1 at 44%. Realistically, production costs need to be covered, and the other magazines which I have analyses cost between £3.50-£4. Following this, the second most popular payment, which is more realistic, is £3-£3.99 at 20%. This corresponds with my primary analyses, and I shall most likely place my magazine in this price bracket.
Overall, this open-ended question produced fairly similar answers, with the features ranking in this order: 1. 84% - Interviews 2. 64% - Album reviews 3. 62% - Q&A’s 4. 53% - New artist exposure 5. 46% - Gig/festival reviews 6. 44% - Merchandise 7. 37% - Reader content 8. 30% - Interactive content As none of these proved unpopular, I would like to mention each of these in the contents page. Freebies were also mentioned in the comments, so that would be an interesting feature to include. I am quite surprised that interactive content is the least popular, considering the high amount of smartphone owners. I will use the interactive features in parallel with other features.