Audience research

 Target audience/demographic: Primarily 16-25 middle market aspirational audience of whom are emotionally engaged with the media they interact with.

The 16-25 age group, also known as generation Z or Gen-Z were raised in the time where social media was growing and developing, meaning navigational skills and competency surrounding technology and online media forms for this group of people are advanced. This all then alters the way in which these individuals interpret and use the media and therefore the way in which media producers target their products in order to satisfy them. Research conducted surrounding the way in which Gen-Z consume media was collated and this is what they found:

• Gen-Z accounts for over 40% of consumers 
• 85% of all Gen-Z learn about new products and media through social media platforms

These statistics imply that in order to reach this 16-25 middle market audience media producers, in this case music video producers, have to use cross-media convergence in order to make the 85% aware and interact with their products. This may include the use of exclusive media language on these social media platforms within the advertisements in order to engage the target audience. 

It was also found that many individuals as part of the generation Z have said they spend so much time consuming media products through social platforms as it "allows them to connect and have a positive effect on their self-esteem and friendships". However, it could be argued the high exposure this age group has had to social media growing up may have had some negative affects. On platforms such as Instagram young people are constantly exposed to influencers that are showing off their 'perfect lifestyles', this means young people are now seeing these unrealistic lifestyles and influencers bodies etc. as a realistic aspiration as a young adult. Things like heavily edited influencer photos set these unrealistic beauty standards on young people making them a very lucrative demographic for companies to target their products at. This results in a significant contribution Gen-Z has on economical profits due to their high levels of media consumption.

The term 'aspirer' refers to the psychometric group of whom seek status and wish to appear rich and attractive. They want to have a future status in society and have no problem invested in luxury products in order to achieve this, influence may have come from influencers they have seen on social media portraying the 'perfect lifestyle' that the aspirer then wish to have. 

In terms of the term 'middle market', this refers to the primarily middle class groups, families that do not earn a very large amount but still have a good disposable income and lack the worry over financial security. This middle-market is descriptive of the BC1 demographic groups in which made up 51% of the UK population in 2016 making them a significant audience to aim products at.