Friday 17 October 2008

To do..

I know, I need to finalise this "little" brief ASAP.

UPDATE: 13th January 2009

Busy finalising this now....

Thursday 2 October 2008

Q1: The target group...

Demographic: 25 - 35 age group

Key Things To Consider

The Middle Youth age band encompasses every possible lifestage imaginable – singles, co-habitors, married with kids, married without kids, divorced etc.

25-34's aren’t all getting married and having kids. Some are settling down while others are still enjoying their independence.

But regardless of lifestage, this age group is settling into the routine of life. There are more responsibilities than when they were students and with the onset of work and long-term relationships, life has become more regimented. TV is used primarily as a form of relaxation.

The Middle Youth is the first generation to grow up in the technology era. They were taught to use a computer at school, had computers at home, and have always known a workplace to be equipped with computers.

Who are they?

There are over 8 million 25-34 year-olds who make up 14% of the population. This number is projected to remain stable for the next 20 years.

Marriage and parenthood are being put off until later. The average age of marriage has increased by around 5 years since 1961, to 30 for men and 28 for women.

Over two-thirds of this group are either married or living with a partner – 30% are still single and 4% are either divorced or separated.

1/3 of women in their mid-thirties have yet to have their first baby. The mean age of women when they have their first child is 27.

While marriage is being put off, living with a partner has grown in popularity. Co-habiting is most popular among men in their early 30s and women in their late 20s.

Since 1971, the gap between people leaving school, settling down to get married and starting a family has grown steadily and young people are now enjoying freedom from responsibility for longer than ever before.

25-34's are more upmarket than the overall population – 58% are ABC1 compared to 52% in the population overall.

25-34's are too busy to sit down and watch the news everyday; instead they are more likely to keep up with only the big stories. The Sun is their most popular paper, but they are more likely to get their news from the internet rather than from a newspaper.

A new life-stage is emerging. Traditionally, there was adolescence followed by adulthood. Now turning 21 doesn’t mean accepting the burden of adulthood – starting a career, buying a house, settling down, etc. These activities are being deferred to the late twenties and beyond.

Between the ages of 25 and 34, individuals are in a range of different lifestages. It is a time when the lines between the values of being young and the values of being parents are blurred. Two-thirds are married or co-habiting, but the remaining third are still very much single.

This age group tends to fall into two key lifestages – the younger (who are still single) and the older (who are co-habiting or married).

At the younger end of the spectrum, individuals tend to be:

Independent and self-reliant. Many have a ‘work to live’ attitude.

Big spenders. What is earned is spent on themselves – and what they buy usually doesn’t come cheap. Cars, mobile phones, broadband, DVD players, designer clothing are amongst the typical items – most of which they consider basic necessities.  

Self-indulgent. This lifestage is a selfish one where things are ‘all about me’.

At the older end of the spectrum, individuals tend to be:

Settling down. Many are either settling into long-term relationships or getting married. Life is calming down and individuals are settling into a routine.

Moving away from the self. Priorities are changing and concerns move towards partners, the home or even children. It’s about compromising and balancing your own needs with those of others.

Establishing their interests. You learn what you like and what you don’t. Whether it’s cooking or history or gardening, individuals are developing their interests in specific genres.

These interests are unlikely to change as they grow older.  

25-34's grew up in the late '70's and '80's.

Among the influences that have left their mark are:
Growth of PCs and the internet
Mrs. Thatcher
Fall of Berlin Wall
Live Aid
AIDS
Ready meals
Ecstasy and rave culture
Property boom
The walkman
Sky TV and Channel 4
Supermodels
Microwaves and CDs

The Premiership
Brit Po
p

They don’t remember a world without:
Colour TV
Computers and calculators
Single parents
Student loans
Foreign holidays
Fresh Orange juice, tuna, pizza, and pasta


Q1: Research...


2007 Audience figures
(Source: RAJAR - Radio Joint Audience Research Ltd)

Initial findings seem to indicate that recent years have seen Radio 3 steadily loose listeners.

In fact figures released in August 2007 and covering the period April to June 2007, show their listening figures fell to their lowest levels for a decade. The station had 1.3 million listeners over the second quarter of 2007, down by 51,000 on the year and 119,000 down for the quarter. This decline followed the most radical shake-up of the station for five years, initiated by Robin Wright, the stations' controller.

At the same time, the figures for Radio 1's breakfast show, hosted by Chris Moyles, grew to 7.26 million - a rise of 200,000 for the quarter and 470,000 for the year. The DJ's popularity helped Radio 1 to reach an audience of 10.87 million; a quarterly rise of 320,000 and an annual increase of 450,000.

Meanwhile, over at Radio 2, Terry Wogan's listening figures were healthy at 7.92 million. Wogan added 40,000 new listeners to his figures but, despite these gains, Radio 2's audience figures fell slightly from the previous quarter to 13.1 million.

The stations' flagship news programme, "Today", retained healthy figures of 9.48 million.

Commercial Radio
This sector had its highest audience for over four years increasing to over 32 million listeners each week; a year on year rise of 1.3 million.

Other avenues
The figures show approximately 91% of the nation's population tune into radio with nearly 6 million people listen via digital means. Additionally, people over 15 listening to radio on mobile phones rose by 27% to 4.4 million, whilst figures for the same age group listening to podcasts grew from 1.9 million to 2.7 million.

2008 Audience figures
(Source: RAJAR - Radio Joint Audience Research Ltd)

Radio 3
Recovered from the previous years disappointing figures to reach 1.91 million listeners each week - a rise of 1.1% for the year. Research also showed that listeners were tuning in for longer.

Radio 1:
Overall the stations' audience fell to 10% of the market, down from 10.87 million to 10.68 million listeners per week. Chris Moyles figures fell from 7.26 to 7.21 million - despite a high of 7.72 million.

Radio 2
Their figures also dropped for the year; down to 13 million from 13.12 the previous year. A market share of 16% for the year. Terry Wogan saw his figures drop a little to 7.75 million yet, despite this fall, his show remains the most popular breakfast show in the UK.

Radio 4
Followed its "Sony Award" for "Station Of The Year" with another strong year. Figure were up to 9.53 million (from 9.48) with a 12% share of the market.

Podcasts
Figures show that over 14 million listeners accessed radio broadcasts via the web, with more than 9 million people downloading podcasts each week. Research revealed that half of the people surveyed were now listening to programmes to which they did not previously listen; each person listening to an average of 1.8 programmes per week with comedy and music being the favoured genres.

Additional Sources:
7th Feb 2008 Ofcom -
"The Future Of Radio"
23rd Jul 2004 Ofcom - "The iPod Generation"
2007 Ofcom - "Radio"
June 2008 Media UK - "BBC Radio 3"
Culture.gov.uk - "Radio & Television"           
27th Feb 2003 The Guardian - "Is 3 Company?"
4th Aug 2005 The Guardian - "Radio 3 Hits New Low"
17th Aug 2007 The Independent - "Radio 3's Spring Clean..."
18th Jun 2004 The Stage - "Leave 3 Be - Radio 3"
9th Sep 2008 Brand Republic - "Radio 3 Autumn Schedule"

Quickie No. 1...Multicuturalism - Radio 3...

Our aim is to..."Develop an advertising strategy for .....Radio 3; to increase audiences amongst the 25-35 age group".

Hmmmmmmm!

Fancy a quickie?...

This is a new section on the blog (along with the PDP 6 - Action Plan) that will allow me to navigate swiftly to where I can put the "quickie" projects that Patrick sets.

PS - Patrick is now to be know as our "Award Leader"...what was wrong with "tutor"?