Demographics and Psychographics

 

Thursday 24 October 2024

Audience classification: Demographics and Psychographics

The first aspect of the Audience key concept we need to study is how media companies target and classify audiences.

In order to do this, we need to learn about audience demographics and psychographics. These are two crucial aspects of how audiences are classified and identified by media companies. 

Notes from today's lesson on Audience

Demographic classification:

• Age
• Gender
• Education
• Social class
• Race/ethnicity
• Job/profession/earnings
• Home (city/village/countryside)

Social class classification

Advertisers have traditionally classified people into the following groups:

• AB – Managerial and professional 
• C1 – Supervisory and clerical 
• C2 – Skilled manual 
• DE – Unskilled manual and unemployed

Audience profiling

Advertisers these days are interested in more than just a social class classification. Now they try to sell a brand or lifestyle and therefore need to know more about their audience than simply age, gender or where they live.

So we also need to think about the kind of brands audiences are interested in and what this says about their lifestyle and interests. Is this product aimed at people who buy Armani and Porsche? Banana Republic and Apple? John Lewis and The Times? Lush and the Vegan Store? Peppa Pig and Haribo? The brands we buy or like say a lot about our personality and attitudes in life.

Psychographics

Media companies use audience profiling to create a more detailed picture of their audience. This means looking at the audience's personality, interests and the brands and lifestyle they enjoy. Young and Rubicam identified a range of different groups that became known as Psychographics. You can revise the different psychographic groups here.

Demographics and Psychographics: blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'Demographics and Psychographics'.

1) What information do media companies use to create a demographic profile of their audience?

Media companies collect information such as age, gender, income, education and occupation. There is usually a mean demographic that they attempt to appeal to by targeting issues or proposing opportunities.

2) Why are media companies and advertisers increasingly using audience profiling and not just demographics?

It provides more information about their audiences and what they are more likely to click on/ buy. It is a more efficient way to target specific groups and to earn money through advertisement as they gather information about their lifestyle and appeals.

3) What are the seven different Psychographic groups? 

The Aspirer, The Reformer, The Explorer, The Mainstream, The Succeeder, The Struggler and The Resigned.

4) Write a brief summary of what each Psychographic group is seeking or motivated by.

 The Aspirer is materialistic and is driven by what other people view them as. The Reformer is independent and base their motivations off their intellect. The Explorer is driven by their need to experience new things and are seeking challenges. The Mainstream are the largest group and base their choices off of domesticity and routine. The succeeder are confident and have set their own motivation for a goal they want to reach, being responsible for themselves and others. The Struggler is disorganised and is only seeking for current fixes. The Resigned are part of an aging population, retaining older values and a yearning for their past.

5) What psychographic group or groups do YOU belong in? Think about your own interests and lifestyle and explain your decision. Remember, you may fit into two or three different groups! 

I am part of the mainstream and explorer demographic, still relatively unbound from crushing responsibility and curious about my options. I seek new experiences but still maintain a routine.

Extension tasks

This is a more detailed A Level explanation of the different Psychographic groups so revise the psychographic groups here.

You can read more about audience targeting on BBC Bitesize here.