Uses and Gratification

Uses and Gratifications Theory  is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. Uses and gratification is an audience-centered approach to understanding mass communication. Diverging from other media effect theories that question "what do media do to people?", Uses and Gratifications focuses on "what do people do with media?"

This means anything within the magazine i.e. the language, the font, the picture and the general view of the magazine, this means that the media industry has to tailor their magazine to its target audience, they do this by using market research and other sources of information, this allows them to change the magazine content so the reader can relate and understand the magazine and this will influence their finished product by the producers as they will want it to connect to their audience.

our groups reasearch for our magazine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1IUfZ8JkPs&feature=plcp

photoshoot

This is behind the scenes at the Soulja boy shoot for vibe magazine this is the genre I am aiming for

Examples of behind the scenes shoots

mood board

Reader profiles

Here you can see the majority (52%) are still in full time education and the average age is 24 so the reader is of the younger nature, so this magazine suggests it has a younger themed music, aimed at the age gap of around 20-26, this is so the magazine will sell as its typical reader buys the magazine because they enjoy the features because if the magazine was to have a classical theme it won’t sell to its typical reader as they average age of a classical magazine will buy the magazine if it contains feature and stories they will want to read, by using these statistics the magazine can aim the articles at the right part of the public so their magazine will actually sell. By using such facts as how much they spend on footwear and clothes the advert can be appropriate and the competitions for example they could have a competition to win a gift card in a high street designer which would attract the readers whereas winning some pots and pans wouldn’t as the readers don’t seem to be interested in that area. Many things like free drinks or reduce pricing of new drinks will encourage the reader to buy the magazine or the next one if they know they can save money as well as getting the magazine. Also by aiming the majority of the adverts for men would be wise as their majority reader is male. Pages that could include a ‘lookbook’ could be included as the majority of readers like to look well dressed.

Democratics

Grade	Social class	Chief income earner's occupation
A	upper middle class	Higher managerial, administrative or professional
B	middle class	Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional
C1	lower middle class	Supervisory or clerical and junior managerial, administrative or professional
C2	skilled working class	Skilled manual workers
D	working class	Semi and unskilled manual workers
E	Those at the lowest levels of subsistence	Casual or lowest grade workers, pensioners and others who depend on the welfare state for their income

 

This table shows the current classes in UK, there is another class – upper class but as only 2% of Britain is classed as upper class it isn’t included in this table. This table is used by the corporate to decide upon what class they are aiming their magazine at and so what price then can charge for their magazine and still be able to get maximum sales. If you aim your magazine at the E class then you may have to make it free or around 20 – 50P whereas if you aim your magazine at A class then you could charge up to £10 for a single magazine, making more money but less people are in this class so you market is limited- therefore not producing as many sales.