Target Audience

Defining a target audience is one of the most vital parts of the making of any magazine. The success and profit of the magazine depends heavily on how closely the content of the product (in this case a music magazine) is matched to the expectations and requirements of the target audience. A target audience is a large or small group of people that are the most relevant to the media product being produced...

My target audience is going to be mainly urban followers of hip hop, as this is the genre of music that I am going to base my magazine on. Similarly to that of 'Vibe' hip hop music magazine, my target audience age range is going to be people in the age bracket of 16-25 years old. Having said this, the official age range for 'Vibe' magazine actually extends to 34. However, even though people up to the age of 34 (and beyond) may enjoy hip hop music, I feel as though few people above the age of 25 are likely to actually purchase the music magazine. This is due to many various factors i.e... lack of time, may have a family to provide for. In my magazine I will not be promoting the use of illegal substances that are often associated with this genre of music, therefore I felt it was appropriate to drop the target audience range to 16 years instead of 18 years old.

Despite the fact that hip hop music today is promoting the idea of male dominance in that it objectifies women and perhaps gives power to males, I want my music magazine to be equally appealing to both genders. This is slightly challenging as I will have to be careful when choosing a colour scheme for my magazine as I do not intend on being biased in any way shape or form. Various elements could however, impact different genders.. for example, if I have a female on the cover, the concept of male gaze may become apparent.

Moreover, I will have to consider the socio-economic groups of my target audience:

A - This is the upper class who have the tendency to earn around £50,000 and over, these are lawyers and business managers .
B- This is the middle class who earn around £35,000-50,000

C1 - This is refered to as the lower middle class (junior managerial, supervisors etc) skilled jobs
C2 - Skilled working class, this is the skilled manual workers also earning £15,000-25,000

D -Lower working class - semi and unskilled manual workers, earning around £7,000-15,000
E - This is the group with lowest level of income (pensioners//widows//students//benefits) earning around £5,000-7,000 per year.

Due to the relatively young age range that I am going to be targeting, I am going to aim my magazine at those that fall into categories E, D and C2, as this is where I think majority of my audience will be in, due to either being a student or being in a new job.