Audience Research: Reader Profile

After looking at the audience demographics of Billboard magazine, I have decided that I am going to target my magazine at a unisex audience and aim it at people above the age of 13 and lower than 26 because I think this allows me to think of a wide range of ideas that will appeal to this audience.  Most of my target audience will be in the socio-economic group E or D because many will be students and therefore relying on parents or a small, not well paid job for money.

I have created a mood board to show interests of my readers. I have included images of role models, possessions, hobbies, TV Shows they would watch and music idols.

Role Models: Because my magazine is aimed at a fairly young audience they probably look up to people who they see often in the media and would recognise them easily. In the image board I used a picture of Lauren Conrad to show a role model because I think that many young girls look up to her, and see her as inspiration. She has written books and been on TV so people would recognise her.
TV Shows: People between the ages of 13 and 26 tend to have free or leisure time in their lives so they are able to watch TV a lot. I have included popular TV Shows such as 'The X Factor' and 'Made in Chelsea' for the reality side of TV, also the X Factor has a music element. The reality genre of TV appeals to this age group, as people find them entertaining and comedic. There are many other popular TV Shows that fit into this category such as 'TOWIE' and `The Voice'. Shows such as 'Homeland' may be popular to the older people i the age group because of the dramatic element they have, and these types of shows are shown past 9 O'Clock and may not appeal to the younger people in the age group because they contain violence and bad language.
Possessions: Young people often have the latest technologies, mobile phones and iPods are very common now to the younger generation. Digital cameras are available readily to consumers and cameras are now part of the everyday smart phone. Social media sites such as Tumblr and Instagram allow people to share their photos online.
Hobbies: As mentioned before I believe that people in my target audience will have quite a bit of free time as many of them will be students. Many students like to take part in an out of school activity, whether it be them joining a dance school or learning to play a musical instrument. These activities often become hobbies. In the image board below I have included a photo of the popular book 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' as I think reading is a hobby enjoyed by all ages, therefore applying to all people in my target age group.
Music Idols: As well as including role models in my image board I have included popular music artists such as Beyonce and Justin Timberlake as I think that many young people like their music and look up to them. They are big in the industry and represent their genre as they are recognisable to most people and their songs are often played on the radio and in the charts.


The reader of my magazine would be similar to those who read Billboard magazine, because it is aimed at a unisex, young audience. I think that my target audience will want interesting and easy to read articles in the magazine because it is about music, I don't think they would like articles that contain heavy themes as I don't think that young people would enjoy reading those articles and they may not be able to mentally handle them. I also think that my target audience would expect to see images of famous artists, articles and columns about these artists in my magazine that they find to be entertaining and informative. I am going to appeal to this particular target audience by having my magazine include exclusive interviews with famous pop stars that my target audience would know, by including freebies such as posters that would make people want to buy the magazine, by making my magazine look aesthetically pleasing to a unisex audience by choosing a colour scheme that would appeal to both genders.