the importance of media audiences

People put a lot of time and effort into researching audience figures for different media products. This information is vital to the development of the station/program/magazine etc. Some reasons for this are:
-To prove the air time is worth the money= If a channel can prove they are pulling in huge audiences for a certain program, they can charge a lot of money for the air time they sell to advertisers. companies will pay less if they think they will be reaching less poeple.

-To know the success of the station= For example, if a pilot of a show gets very low ratings, the station will have to think weather it is worth investing more money to continue producing it.

-If your performing on a sucessful show you can ask for higher pay.= An actor who started in a brand new drama which has massivly grown in popularity over the series is likely to ask for a pay rise because they know that their work is getting the station more viewers, which means more money.

Focus group
I was the observer of a trial focus group which was run by Lucy. I took note of how well this form of research worked and what we found out from it. the demographics of the people in the group were very similar. We are all the same age and there was only one boy in the group. This, unsurprisingly, meant that the group often had the same opinion on issues raised. The research was useful however, because we discovered that to reach this target audience, viral advertising would be the most effective. The group also gave reasons for this. The opinion is that if a friend sends you a link, you will open it because you tust there is a reason they have sent it to you. I would say there were many disadvantages of this form of reaseach; because it is a group activity peoples opinions may be swayed by others and some members of the group may be much more dominant so others dont get a chance to talk. Also questions are not answered in as much deapth as they could be. However a big advantage is that people will feel more relaxed with other people in the same situation. it is less intence than a one on one interview so people are more willing to share ideas.