How do media corporations target, build, and maintain audiences?
Media corporations rely on their audience to survive/make a profit. If their media text/product cannot target a specific audience to cate the product towards, the corporation/product will not survive. If the product is able to target an audience but is subsequently unable to build/get them to use the product, the product will not survive. Even if they're able to get a fanbase, if they are unable to maintain this audience, the product will not survive. This essay specifically explores the different ways media corporations will target an audience using genre, demographics/psychographics, and intertextuality.
Genre is an important factor in the targeting of an audience. Deciding what genre your media product is going to be is crucial in targeting your audience, as it sets expectations for audiences. However, it is important to note that even though a text may have its own genre, it must also be different in the sense that it should be able to separate itself from competitors and be new/exciting, and not just a boring copy. According to Steve Neale, a texts genre not only provides audiences with expectations, but also provides distributors with a target audience, provides production directors with a blueprint, and lessens risk for distributers/producers. i.e, if a media consumer is a fan of the Horror genre, they may be eager to watch this new horror film even if they know nothing about it, this consequently lessens risk for producers and distributors as they know there will be a demand for the movie/show. A prominent example of this would be the Amazon Prime Original superhero television series The Boys, based off the comic series of the same name, written by Garth Ennis. The Boys would generally fall under the "Super Hero" genre, however the twist in the genre convention is that the superhero's in The Boys aren't portrayed as "goody two shoes world saving good guys", but instead are portrayed in a more realistic manner. Where superhero's, like any self absorbed privileged humans, fall under the temptations of corporate greed, corruption, and are in full gear to fulfill their supersized ego that comes along with the fame, money, and power. In a world where superhero movies have become saturated beyond belief, and monopolies like Marvel and DC follow the same genre tropes over and over again, it's a creative and brave decision to break the convention of hero's always being "perfect". This has led The Boys to be one of the highest rated superhero series' of all time, with an impressive 8.7 on IMDB and a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. Media consumers have given the show a humungous amount of praise for its writing and plot, which is why I believe The Boys is a perfect example of how media corporations may use Genre, and the conventions of genre theory to successfully target an audience. Pulling them in with the guise of a brand new superhero series, and hooking them in when they break conventions of your average super hero flick.
Next, we can explore how media corporations use demographics/psychographics to target their audience. Whether or not a media text will succeed heavily relies on how well the media corporations are able to target different demographics/psychographics to consume their product. These demographics and psychographics may include age, gender, race, class, star appeal, hobbies, interests, and more. A perfect example of media corporations using demographics/psychographics to effectively target an audience would be the 2017 film, Jumanji: Welcome to The Jungle, produced by Columbia Pictures and distributed by Sony Pictures. The film targets a variety of demographics and psychographics as seen predominantly in its trailer, which features Spencer, the films main character who is portrayed to be a "nerdy" kid that has a huge interest in video games that, by some twist of fate, ends up in a fantasy world called Jumanji, with a group of people he never would have expected to be with, and somehow need to find a way to escape the video game world. What really gives the film its audience though is its use of star appeal. Once in the video game world, the groups real life identities convert into video game avatars where they become characters in the game that are played by actors like Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, and more. This cast of actors coming together to star in this film took the world by storm. More importantly though, the main characters all come from different backgrounds. As mentioned previously, Spencer is a white kid that follows the tropes of your typical high school nerd, who loves to play arcade and video games, along with Anthony, who follows the trope of your typical African-American football star, Beth, who follows the trope of the "instagram influencer" and Martha, your average "flunker" student. This vast representation of groups targets a myriad of demographics and psychographics all at once. Different socio-economic backgrounds, different ethnicities, different interests and hobbies, and more. The film essentially has at least one character that a majority of high schoolers would be able to relate to. Furthermore, the star appeal in the film is unmatched. If you're a fan of Jack Black, you'll want to watch the movie. If you're a fan of Dwayne Johnson, you'll want to watch the movie, and so on. According to Katz and Bulmer's Uses and Gratification Theory, people see celebrities as role models, and thus fulfill the need of personal identity by watching the movie. For all these reasons and more, I believe that the 2017 film Jumanji: Welcome to The Jungle, shows how media corporations can effectively target an audience using different demographics and psychographics, but most prominently star appeal, and is proven by its incredible box office revenue of over $900 Million.
Lastly, media corporations often utilize intertextuality to target an audience. This is when media products include subtle, or sometimes not so subtle nodd's to other media products as to attract audiences of those media products to come and consumer your own media product whether it be movies, shows, songs, art or more. A prominent example of the use of intertextuality would be the video game Fortnite. Fortnite is an online battle Royale genre shooter game produced and distributed by Epic Games, and released in 2017. It is generally regarded as the video game with the most amount of collaborations with other media products of all time, and for good reason. The game originally started as a simple free to play battle royale game, but as it gained popularity, Epic Games decided to start collaborating with media corporations like Disney to produce collaborations which features the Marvel and Star wars franchise, along with singers like Ariana Grande, Travis Scott, Marshmello and more. The amount of intertextuality featured in Fortnite is unrivalled by any video game ever released. This has led to massive success for Epic Games as collaborations often lead to their own "skin-line" being released, which allow for players to purchase skins through in app transaction purchases. According to David Gauntlets personal identity theory, fans of Marvel, Disney, Star Wars, Rick and Morty, Naruto, and more, will now have the opportunity to purchase these skins and show off their interest in these other shows/characters to other players in game. This all leads to a massive spike in monthly active players, as well as a huge spike in skin revenue. This was detailed by Epic Games themselves in which they stated they gained a total of over $6 Billion Profits in skins sold purely from collaborations. This intertextuality plays a key role in the appeal Fortnite has to new audiences, and is the main factor on how Fortnite is able to consistently gain new players daily. Thus, I believe that Fortnite is a prime example and shows clearly how intertextuality can be used by media corporations to target audiences.
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