A big part of marketing is to identify a target audience, only then can marketers develop strategies to target and reach that audience. One way of identifying target audience's is by breaking them down into smaller demographic groups. An established way of identifying these groups was developed by the UK Nation Readership Survey - called NRS Social Grades.
Social grade is a classification system based on occupation. Income is not part of the social grade classification. However, there is a strong correlation between income and social grade as shown in the chart above. The grades are often grouped into 'ABC1' and 'C2DE'. These are taken to make up the middle class and working class. Only around 2% of the UK population is identified as upper class, and this group is not separated by the classification scheme.
How does this help me understand my target audience for my film?
Pearl and Dean sell advertising space for UK cinema's - The adverts seen before a film. In order to inform their customers (potential advertisers) where to place their advert, they analyze a potential movie going audience based on the audiences of similar movies. They will analyze the audience in terms of gender, social grade and age. This gives Pearl and Dean different GAP's (Guaranteed Audience Packages) for potential buyers. This means they can filter out all other films that are not suitable for their target audience and only pay for the relevant ones. For example, Nivea men's deodorant would pay for the GAP Male package.
(Pearl and Dean: https://business.pearlanddean.com/films/)
Looking at this I identified the different types of audience for different styles and genre's. For example, action films have are populated with audiences mostly consisting of men between the age of 20 and 40 who are part of the ABC1 social grades. The reasons for this is that action creates meaning with fast pace action and exciting story-lines, usually revolving around the Hero vs Villain formula, as seen in many of the Marvel movies.
With this understanding, I know that my film would most likely be aimed towards a more male dominant audience (roughly 60%), mostly between the ages of 20 and 40. As for the audience's social grade, I would expect ABC1C2 to attend the type of film that I am making. I would say that the audience is constructed this way because of the themes constructed and the characters shown involve the usual archetypes of the middle-upper class. The age is more directed towards the content of the film, as it involves graphic imagery it would be obvious that this is a film meant for older audiences.
Types of Audience's
Mainstream Audience
- At their most extreme, they focus on either clearly romantic or action-based mainstream films.
- They are particularly drawn to films that are recognized as 'big films' or blockbusters.
- Very unlikely to seek out 'foreign' films.
- Film acts as an antidote to their everyday lives - escapism is a central driver of their reason to visit a cinema.
- Tend to be rejects of specialized films.
Mainstream Plus
- Because they are principally looking for 'good' films (without breaking them down into categories), and because their cinema attendance can be as infrequent as once a month, they will usually find a mainstream film that satisfies their demand for 'something good'.
- However, a less mainstream film that has earned itself the status of a 'must-see' can appeal to them over and above mainstream fare, and can become their first choice for a visit.
- They tend to stick to mainstream repertoire. However, they can be lured into seeing specialized films now and again. These films will typically be American/English, offbeat but upbeat, accessible and with a familiar cast.
Aficionados
- Aficionados are more likely than Mainstream Plus audiences to think of 'specialized films' as a category in their own right,
- They like to portray themselves as more discerning than other film-goers, to the extent of describing themselves as 'anti-Hollywood' - even though they still predominantly see mainstream American films.
- Compared to Mainstream types, Aficionados are more likely to make an effort to seek out specialized films that have caught their attention.
- Aficionados will see all the sane specialized films as Mainstream Plus audiences, as well as specialized films that are foreign, more thought-provoking and have unfamiliar casts. They are still likely to reject the more extreme examples of specialized materials.
Film Avids
- Film Avids have their identity strongly bound up in film.
- They express a strong liking for films that do not fit neatly into any genre.
- Their love of cinema extends to the point where they are not merely interested in the film itself, but like to read and gain knowledge of the subject.
- The language used by Film Avids tends to be more sophisticated, analytical and thoughtful than that used by other types.
- They plan their viewing much further in advance than other filmgoers.
- They enjoy and indeed may even prefer going to the cinema on their own.
- They use a greater variety of sources to find out what's going on and will make a trip specifically to go to the cinema.
- They often go more than once to see the same film.
- They will see mainstream films for different reasons than other audiences (e.g. to appreciate the special effects of Transformers).
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