Thursday, 26 March 2015
Bath Chronicle vs. BuzzFeed Focus Group
This focus group was to compare the features and appeal of the Bath Chronicle's website with the BuzzFeed website from a teenagers point of view.
They discussed and compared what they like, dislike, the topics and sections, what appeals to them the most, what each website could take from one another and whether the websites appeal to the target demographic.
Overall the group preferred the BuzzFeed website as it's clearly aimed towards the demographic they're in and targets the demographic by being humorous and also using slang and chatty language. Although they liked the fun aspects of the site they felt it could be seen as inappropriate when they're trying to cover some serious news topics.
The Bath Chronicle's website was described as dated and in need of a refresh, they felt like it definitely isn't aimed towards their demographic and it would be more appealing to someone more old and mature- someone who would probably rather read a printed newspaper.
As teenagers are likely to be the majority of people viewing online content, the group think that the Bath Chronicle would be taking a good risk if they were to aim the website towards young people but still keeping their formality, as structure and formality is a point that the group liked about the Chronicle as it makes it easy to navigate.
BuzzFeed Channel Focus Group
I asked a group of students in the class to discuss what they thought about BuzzFeed's YouTube Channel as a news platform. The students are all in between the ages of 16-20 so fit into the demographic that the brief if targeting.
They discussed points about the layout, video subjects and length, playlists, navigation around the channel as well as their general thoughts and opinions about how well the channel works and whether it's appealing to them.
Everyone in the group liked how the videos are short in length therefore you don't have to dedicate a lot of time and focus into watching them and the information is easy to digest.
They like that the videos are light hearted and aimed at the younger demographic, featuring listicles and relevant topics to teenagers.
Someone mentioned how they like the thumbnails, they are the first thing you see before you even read the video title and they work at attracting the audience by using bright colours, exciting pictures and bold titles.
Thursday, 19 March 2015
GC 2.1- Applying Research Techniques
Using SurveyMonkey, I came up with a list of questions to ask 14-25 year olds to get more of an insight into their interests and the type of media they consume. I posted the link to the questionnaire on Facebook rather than just asking people in my class, by posting the link to a wide selection of friends on Facebook it meant that the results collected represent the age demographic wore broadly and accurately. The questions I asked were:
- Gender?
- Age?
- Do you read a newspaper regularly?
- Do you access news online?
- Which of these do you use? Tick all that apply: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, YouTube.
- What are you interested in? Tick all that apply: Music, Fashion, Food, Photography,Reading, Sport,
- What is your favourite way to consume information? Printed written word, Online written word, Short online video, Radio/Podcast, Spoken presentation, Television.
I got a range of results from both males and females between the ages of 14-20 although the majority of people that answered the questionnaire were aged 16 or 17. As a 16 year old I feel that the age bracket of 16-18 year olds would be a sensible group to target as I feel that there is too much of a gap in maturity and interests between 14-25 year olds.
Under a quarter of the sample read a newspaper regularly. From this result I have decided that the product I produce to increase young people interest in the Bath Chronicle shouldn't be in the printed newspaper as there aren't enough young people that access it regularly, it is unlikely that young people would start purchasing the newspaper with their own money just for one feature.
Although the majority of the sample don't read the newspaper, almost all of them access news online which confirms what I mentioned above that teenagers don't want to purchase a printed publication, they want to be able to access information from their mobile or computer at a convenient time for them, free of charge. Online news has the opportunity to be more controversial and specific to different peoples interests as producing online news is a faster process and almost all articles written are published.
I asked this question to find out which social networking sites are popular and whether the majority of young people use them. Facebook is the most popular however networking sites like Twitter, Instagram and YouTube follow very closely after. Teenagers use social networking sites as they can stay updated with what their friends and favourite celebrities are doing as well as sharing their own opinions, feelings and interests. As everyone I asked uses at least one social networking site, these would be good platforms to share the Bath Chronicles content as it would be sure to be seen by a young audience.
This question looks more at the general interests of teenagers and what entertains them. Music is clearly the top interest for young people as all of the people who answered my questionnaire consider music to be something they're interested in. I feel that introducing a musical aspect to the Bath Chronicle would attract young people as local musicians would be able to get involved and the consumers would be able to access it like they do with the music they currently spend time accessing whether that be live music or music online.
Photography and fashion also appear to be strong interests for teenagers. As more teenagers are using Instagram, anyone is able to become photographer with just a mobile phone. An Instagram profile is something that the Bath Chronicle don't currently have, the profile is free to set up and young locals could potentially get involved by using the hash tagging system.
Both of the most popular ways to consume media are based online. Short online videos are the most popular followed by the online written word. Short online videos are easy and generally free to access and they can present information in a fun way and all you have to do is sit, watch and listen. They are perfect for teenagers who don't want to spend their free time doing activities that feel like extra school/college work. However teenagers do spend a lot of time reading the information on social networking sites and text messages with friends so the results of my questionnaire show that most teenagers would likely be happy to read some supporting words with a video.
In previous questionnaires from other media related projects, I had only managed to collect information from other media students. For this questionnaire, I shared the link with a wider range of people on Facebook and friends and family who're in my demographic from outside of the classroom. All together I collected over 50 responses so I am happy with the results I gathered.
Reflection- Week 1
After receiving the brief for my FMP just over a week ago I have developed an understanding as to what I have been asked to do. Using my understanding I have begun to to make progress originating ideas and also focusing on context to help me develop my ideas.
Assignment 1
For the first assignment I produced a blog post showing contextual research about the Bath Chronicle and the requirements of the brief outlining the clients issue, what the client needs to do to solve the problem, needs of the client and needs of the demographic which is 14-25 year olds.
What did I know before?
Before my contextual research I had an understanding that young people are becoming less engaged when it comes to reading the news, especially printed newspapers. I knew that the Bath Chronicle's website is becoming popular and that it gets a lot of viewers- more than the newspaper.
What did I do?
I had to discover what the Bath Chronicle's problem was when it comes to engaging their younger demographic. Lin, from the Bath Chronicle visited the college and gave a presentation about the Bath Chronicle outlying what it contains and who it reaches out to. As well as Lin's presentation I used the internet to find out some more information about what the Bath Chronicle offers and doesn't offer, this meant that I could decide what the problem was and how to begin to solving it by looking at the needs of the demographic.
What did I learn?
Lin's presentation taught me a lot of the figures and statistics about the Bath Chronicle's readership. One of the facts that surprised me is that her market research showed that young people are reading the Bath Chronicle but only when they are living at home with an adult family member who is intentionally buying the newspaper, as soon as the young person leaves home they almost always don not continue buying the newspaper for themselves.
Assignment 1
For the first assignment I produced a blog post showing contextual research about the Bath Chronicle and the requirements of the brief outlining the clients issue, what the client needs to do to solve the problem, needs of the client and needs of the demographic which is 14-25 year olds.
What did I know before?
Before my contextual research I had an understanding that young people are becoming less engaged when it comes to reading the news, especially printed newspapers. I knew that the Bath Chronicle's website is becoming popular and that it gets a lot of viewers- more than the newspaper.
What did I do?
I had to discover what the Bath Chronicle's problem was when it comes to engaging their younger demographic. Lin, from the Bath Chronicle visited the college and gave a presentation about the Bath Chronicle outlying what it contains and who it reaches out to. As well as Lin's presentation I used the internet to find out some more information about what the Bath Chronicle offers and doesn't offer, this meant that I could decide what the problem was and how to begin to solving it by looking at the needs of the demographic.
What did I learn?
Lin's presentation taught me a lot of the figures and statistics about the Bath Chronicle's readership. One of the facts that surprised me is that her market research showed that young people are reading the Bath Chronicle but only when they are living at home with an adult family member who is intentionally buying the newspaper, as soon as the young person leaves home they almost always don not continue buying the newspaper for themselves.
Assignment 2
I also spent this week focusing on the demographic that the brief has asked me to target. To begin with I did some research into the newspaper and events industry covering some history of the industry and recent changes. It then went on look at two specific case studies of a local newspaper and an event that has developed from a newspaper. After this I researched the demographic and their needs.
What did I know before?
Beforehand I was aware that many newspaper are now expanding their publication to the internet as it means they can target a wider audience. As a teenager I know that young people spend a lot of their time on the internet as the internet is the easiest way to access almost any new information you wish, I also know that teenagers use the internet mainly for social networking and accessing music and videos on YouTube.
What did I do?
Using the internet I did secondary research into the newspaper and events industry and using my own textual analysis skills I did a case study on Frome's local newspaper and The Daily Mirror's Pride of Britain Awards. I have an interest in events and how they are organised so I decided it would be good to analyse one. I then went on to do some more secondary research about the type of media and entertainment young people consume and from this research I developed a questionnaire about media consumption and interests which I sent out to my Facebook friends, this meant that I could get a wider idea of the demographics needs.
What do I know now?
Now I know about events hosted by newspapers that are sponsored by different companies for recognition and success for the event. My previous knowledge of teenagers and their use of the internet has been increased by my secondary research and from my questionnaire I discovered that teenagers look for fun aspects in the media they consume, to reflect their social interests like music, fashion, sport and photography.
I am now going to spend some time reading over assignments 1 and 2 making sure I've included everything I can to a high standard and the best of my ability. Next week I would like to spend the majority of my time developing my idea for the creative side of the FMP by looking over my research and my own interests.
Tuesday, 17 March 2015
GC 2.1- Investigating Demographic
The Bath Chronicle currently sell around 16,000 copies of their newspaper per week however their readership is around 57,000. Lynne, from The Bath Chronicle, says that The Bath Chronicle is a family friendly newspaper that is usually purchased by a parent in a middle class family and most of the other family members in the house will also read the newspaper. Lin also said that because Bath is a modern city, The Bath Chronicle looks more modern than a lot of regional newspapers as they know they need to appeal to a trendy audience.
The core needs of the demographic are food, a home, entertainment, and a social life. Whatever the Chronicle do to develop their content for the fresh target demographic shouldn't breech any of the core needs, as these are the most basic things that the need to keep at a constant.
From market research that The Bath Chronicle have done, they discovered that young people between the ages of 14-25 are reading their newspaper when they live at home with their family however when they leave the home and become independent the amount of young people reading The Bath Chronicle decreases, showing that the people purchasing the newspaper are mature, working house owners.
By looking at people social class we can make an educated guess as to what they would be interested in purchasing and reading about. The Bath Chronicle know that they are targeting a middle/upper class audience therefore it is beneficial for them to have features about purchasing homes and cars, donating to charity and their events like the Love to Shop awards as their audience are likely to have the income to act upon their interest in fashion and style.
Young people take influence from family and friends with different aspects in their life and this graph displays where young people are influenced.
Slideshare (2011) Consumer Behaviour- Family, social class&life cycle. [Online] Accessed on: 17.02.2015. Accessible at: http://www.slideshare.net/rainbowlink/family-social-class-life-cycle?related=2
Teenagers are Digital Natives, Youth Net (2015) say that the internet is now a natural space for teenagers to go.
“Young people’s use of ‘new media’ allows them to create a continuous stream of multiple conversations, interweaving differing media formats. They associate the internet with a strong sense of community.”
Youth Net. Young People’s needs in the digital age. [Online] Accessed on: 16.03.2015. Accessible at: http://www.youthnet.org/what-we-do/key-facts-and-figures/media-factsheet-young-people’s-needs-in-the-digital-age/
The internet offers a lot more to teenagers than what they can access from a book or a newspaper. It is fast, easy to access and also free.
Pew Research Centre. Teen and Young Adult Internet Use. [Online] Accessed on: 16.03.2015. Accessible at: http://www.pewresearch.org/millennials/teen-internet-use-graphic/
This table above shows how often young people of different ethnicities and income access the internet. The darker the colour of the square, the higher the percentage of teenagers accessing the internet.
From the table I can see that white teens and teens from higher income families access the internet more regularly than teens from a black or hispanic background and a lower income family. The majority of young people living in Bath fit into the white, higher income family bracket meaning that Bath's young people are potentially accessing the internet very regularly- an online news platform would likely be the most appealing.
In 2014, Pew Research's internet survey showed that 87% 18-29 year olds are Facebook users and an average of 72% of high school-university students are Facebook users, which is the vast majority of people in these demographics.
YouGov (2014) discovered that 61% of 13-18 year olds with a mobile phone also own a tablet. They have also presented what teenagers use their tablets for.
M. Stanley (2009). How Teenagers Consume Media: the report that shook the City. [Online] Accessed on: 19.03.2015. Accessible at: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2009/jul/13/teenage-media-habits-morgan-stanley
This information is interest and The Guardian did research into teenagers interests however rather than sharing the straight and reliable results they seem to have concluded their results in an informal way. Therefore, these results may not be entirely accurate, The Guardian may be showing some bias against teenagers and writing their conclusion in such a way that presents all teenagers as lazy computer geeks.
GC 2.1- Newspaper And Events Industry
The history of the newspaper and events industry
In the 17th Century, newspapers first started to become more common, replacing single news sheets. A conventional newspaper was a printed publication containing more than one news story, they were dated and available regularly.
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The first newspaper to be published was the Strasbourg Relation, in Germany and the earliest copies date back to 1609. The first British newspaper however, according to the News Media Association (2015) was the Corante. The Corante was published in London in 1621 and became a replacement for newsletters. In 1702, the newspaper started being released daily so the name changed to The Daily Corante.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_newspapers_and_magazines
Printed newspapers such as The Daily Mirror, The Sun and The Telegraph are all available daily. They focus on international news and sports events from the previous day as they are usually released in the morning but the news is always as up to date as it can possibly be.
Some newspapers are available in weekly intervals for example The Bath Chronicle. Weekly newspapers cover the same sort of topics as daily newspapers like sport and politics, although weekly newspapers are usually more specific to a local area therefore the news covered is almost like a round up of what's been happening in that area during the previous week.
Since the Bath Chronicle's website was introduced along with the free Metro that is available in Bath, less people have been purchasing the newspaper. With these formats available, people have less incentive to buy a newspaper when they can access similar information for free. The consumers just want something to fill their time, they don't mind whether it's from a specific company or brand.
The Bath Chronicle, in association with SouthGate in Bath hosted their first Love to Shop awards last year and have plans for the event to run just as successfully this year. The Bath Chronicle say that the aim of the event is to recognise those who make our shopping experience personal and unique. There are award catergories such as best newcomer, best marketing campaign and best visual display.
This is a fairly small scale event held at the Bath racecourse. The event only celebrates the achievements in the Bath area therefore has no international broadcast, however some national newspapers hold events on a much larger scale as they reach out to a much larger audience. Newspapers like The Daily Mirror can afford to host their Pride of Britain awards because of their broad audience and sponsorships.
Case study- The Daily Mirror's Pride of Britain Awards
The event: The Daily Mirror's Pride of Britain awards.
The date: Anually since it was founded in 1999.
The aim: "The annual awards honour the UK's unsung heroes" The Daily Mirror (2015).
What is it? If you know someone exceptional, someone who's gone out of their way to help others or someone who's performed a great act of bravery then you can nominate them for a Pride of Britain award. You can go online to nominate anyone you think deserves a Pride of Britiain award. A team of researchers will look through the nominations and decide who is worthy of collecting their award at The Daily Mirrors annual event that is televised.
Background: The first Pride of Britiain award show was aired in 1999 on ITV 1 and with ITV as a sponsor, the awards are still aired on ITV annually. The event hosted is hosted by Carol Vorderman but the awards are presented by the favourite celebreties of the award winners aswell as figures in politics and sport. The awards are shown on primetime televison and every year over five million viewers tune in to watch.
News papers can host awards as they don't have to pay for the awards they give out, they are all paid for by the sponsors meaning they can justify the rest of the money they spend on the event. The amount of PR they get from these events make more profit for them in the long run.
Case study- The Frome Standard
The newspaper: The Frome Standard.
The date: Thursday, July 25, 2013.
The news event: Local mother praises the teachers at her daughters school for reacting so well when her daughter collapsed in the playground.
What you see: The front cover features the main headline story in the centre, on the right side is the beginning of another story that is to be continued inside the newspaper. Also in the centre is a large, colourful picture of runners in the Frome Half Marathon which is a positive, recent local event. Directly under the name of the newspaper is an advert, there is also another advert at the bottom of the page, both adverts are relevant to the Frome area promoting local businesses and opportunities.
Background: The front page was printed two years ago as the weekly instalment of The Frome Standard. Previous to this, the newspaper was titled The Somerset Standard and it covered news throughout Somerset however the newspaper now focuses mainly on news and events in Frome although it still features some of the bigger stories from the surrounding Somerset area. The newspaper is owned by Bath News and Media who are also the owners of The Bath Chronicle.
Contents of the newspaper: Like most local newspapers, The Frome Standard is released weekly and sold locally. The newspaper features news stories about locals, schools, the council and anything notable that has happened in the area throughout the previous week.
Local events in the Somerset area are promoted in the Standard as well as advertisements for job vacancies, second hand items that are being sold in the area and car information.
There is a weekly feature about history in Frome, Locals can send in photos, stories and family archives that they have discovered from the past. A lot of the newspaper is filled with houses for sale and to rent in the area.
Another main features of the newspaper is the music section, Frome has a large artisan community that hold a lot of music and theatrical events so the music section contains information about these upcoming events as well as interviews with the people involved.
Finally in the back pages of the newspaper are the sports pages focusing mainly on the sport that is in season at the time. Frome has multiple football and rugby teams for both adults and children so their progress is followed weekly.
As well as the weekly newspaper, The Frome Standard also have a website where news stories are published daily.
Design: The design of the front cover is very typical of a modern newspaper with bold headlines, sub headers, bylines and photographs. Advertising is a large source of income for newspapers therefore they must take the opportunity to fill any gap with advertisements. The Frome Standard gives off a more positive vibe than most national newspapers with its bold colours and also an image of a heart, the aim of this is likely to be encouraging the people of Frome to come together as a community and share and celebrate local achievements and support each other with some of the harder news.
In the 17th Century, newspapers first started to become more common, replacing single news sheets. A conventional newspaper was a printed publication containing more than one news story, they were dated and available regularly.
The first newspaper to be published was the Strasbourg Relation, in Germany and the earliest copies date back to 1609. The first British newspaper however, according to the News Media Association (2015) was the Corante. The Corante was published in London in 1621 and became a replacement for newsletters. In 1702, the newspaper started being released daily so the name changed to The Daily Corante.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_newspapers_and_magazines
Printed newspapers such as The Daily Mirror, The Sun and The Telegraph are all available daily. They focus on international news and sports events from the previous day as they are usually released in the morning but the news is always as up to date as it can possibly be.
Some newspapers are available in weekly intervals for example The Bath Chronicle. Weekly newspapers cover the same sort of topics as daily newspapers like sport and politics, although weekly newspapers are usually more specific to a local area therefore the news covered is almost like a round up of what's been happening in that area during the previous week.
Since the Bath Chronicle's website was introduced along with the free Metro that is available in Bath, less people have been purchasing the newspaper. With these formats available, people have less incentive to buy a newspaper when they can access similar information for free. The consumers just want something to fill their time, they don't mind whether it's from a specific company or brand.
As the internet is becoming an increasingly popular format to access information, it is unlikely to find a newspaper that isn't now online. Online newspapers give the company an opportunity to potentially reach out to a worldwide audience as well as online content having a much faster publication turn around, a short article can be written and posted online within minutes where as you won't see a printed article until the next day.
Apps have been generated as well as websites for newspapers such as The Sun and The Daily Mail, meaning that the news is now accessible on a small screen from wherever you may be. As a regular bus user, I feel that it's far more practical to use a mobile phone to read the news during a commute than it is it read a full sized printed newspaper.
Due to the online platform that newspapers are creating, newspapers such as The Daily Mirror and The Bath Chronicle are hosting their own events. Brands sponsor the newspapers events so that the event can go ahead and in the process of this the brands get recognition and promotion.
This is a fairly small scale event held at the Bath racecourse. The event only celebrates the achievements in the Bath area therefore has no international broadcast, however some national newspapers hold events on a much larger scale as they reach out to a much larger audience. Newspapers like The Daily Mirror can afford to host their Pride of Britain awards because of their broad audience and sponsorships.
Case study- The Daily Mirror's Pride of Britain Awards
The event: The Daily Mirror's Pride of Britain awards.
The date: Anually since it was founded in 1999.
The aim: "The annual awards honour the UK's unsung heroes" The Daily Mirror (2015).
What is it? If you know someone exceptional, someone who's gone out of their way to help others or someone who's performed a great act of bravery then you can nominate them for a Pride of Britain award. You can go online to nominate anyone you think deserves a Pride of Britiain award. A team of researchers will look through the nominations and decide who is worthy of collecting their award at The Daily Mirrors annual event that is televised.
Background: The first Pride of Britiain award show was aired in 1999 on ITV 1 and with ITV as a sponsor, the awards are still aired on ITV annually. The event hosted is hosted by Carol Vorderman but the awards are presented by the favourite celebreties of the award winners aswell as figures in politics and sport. The awards are shown on primetime televison and every year over five million viewers tune in to watch.
News papers can host awards as they don't have to pay for the awards they give out, they are all paid for by the sponsors meaning they can justify the rest of the money they spend on the event. The amount of PR they get from these events make more profit for them in the long run.
Case study- The Frome Standard
The newspaper: The Frome Standard.
The date: Thursday, July 25, 2013.
The news event: Local mother praises the teachers at her daughters school for reacting so well when her daughter collapsed in the playground.
What you see: The front cover features the main headline story in the centre, on the right side is the beginning of another story that is to be continued inside the newspaper. Also in the centre is a large, colourful picture of runners in the Frome Half Marathon which is a positive, recent local event. Directly under the name of the newspaper is an advert, there is also another advert at the bottom of the page, both adverts are relevant to the Frome area promoting local businesses and opportunities.
Background: The front page was printed two years ago as the weekly instalment of The Frome Standard. Previous to this, the newspaper was titled The Somerset Standard and it covered news throughout Somerset however the newspaper now focuses mainly on news and events in Frome although it still features some of the bigger stories from the surrounding Somerset area. The newspaper is owned by Bath News and Media who are also the owners of The Bath Chronicle.
Contents of the newspaper: Like most local newspapers, The Frome Standard is released weekly and sold locally. The newspaper features news stories about locals, schools, the council and anything notable that has happened in the area throughout the previous week.
Local events in the Somerset area are promoted in the Standard as well as advertisements for job vacancies, second hand items that are being sold in the area and car information.
There is a weekly feature about history in Frome, Locals can send in photos, stories and family archives that they have discovered from the past. A lot of the newspaper is filled with houses for sale and to rent in the area.
Another main features of the newspaper is the music section, Frome has a large artisan community that hold a lot of music and theatrical events so the music section contains information about these upcoming events as well as interviews with the people involved.
Finally in the back pages of the newspaper are the sports pages focusing mainly on the sport that is in season at the time. Frome has multiple football and rugby teams for both adults and children so their progress is followed weekly.
As well as the weekly newspaper, The Frome Standard also have a website where news stories are published daily.
Design: The design of the front cover is very typical of a modern newspaper with bold headlines, sub headers, bylines and photographs. Advertising is a large source of income for newspapers therefore they must take the opportunity to fill any gap with advertisements. The Frome Standard gives off a more positive vibe than most national newspapers with its bold colours and also an image of a heart, the aim of this is likely to be encouraging the people of Frome to come together as a community and share and celebrate local achievements and support each other with some of the harder news.
Thursday, 12 March 2015
GC 1.1- Understanding Requirements
The Bath Chronicle currently receive the majority of their income through sales of their weekly newspaper that original began being published as a daily update in 1760. Since then, printed newspapers are decreasing in popularity and although The Chronicle now have a web page, they still have a lack of interest from the younger demographic.
Although the paper is now online with social media which is a main interest for the younger demographic, they are yet to find a product or format that really engages younger people, therefore The Chronicle currently have a demographic of mainly local, working adults. The young people that are reading The Chronicle are mainly reading it because there is a copy in the house bought by their parents, it's unlikely that The Chronicle will keep these young readers when they leave home.
This is how the Bath chronicle has developed since it was first published.
After cutting down the publication of the newspaper from daily to weekly in 2007, I see that they must’ve had a lack of demand as well as a lack of enough engaging content to attract a daily audience. Making the transfer to a weekly publication means that the publishers have more time to put into research, design and overall content of the paper.
As this advantage still doesn’t attract a wide demographic, The Chronicle need to put some of their time into really making their paper sell to everyone to keep their current demographic engaged as well as rising above their competitors by becoming as popular as they possibly can.
Every story that is written is posted on The Chronicle's website and just the best and most potentially successful stories are published in the print document. With the websites wide variety they have the chance to reach out to a varied audience, the stories online need to attract the demographic that mainly visit the online news site.
The home page of The Bath Chronicle's website.
The core needs of the Chronicle are to sell their papers to make money for the steak-holders, being Bath News and Media who are owned by Local World, a public company with shareholders and the people they're paying wages to in the office to keep people employed.
Their wider responsibility is to provide to the community who read, buy and consume their media.
The Chronicle need to look at different factors to attract the interest of the younger audience so they can decide what needs to change and how to change it, for example..
Awareness- How the company promote their paper, website and events. The more promotion they can get, the more likely they are to catch the attention of people that may not go into a news agents and spot a physical copy of their paper.
Appropriate media products- Finding a particular format or media product that may slightly steer away from the newspaper and website they have to offer. The radio, a web series and glossy magazines are all media formats that are attractive as the information can be consumed quickly.
Content- Stories that are covered in the newspaper and online need to be interesting and engaging, potentially an equal balance of hard to soft news or perhaps the main focus could be soft news. More important news has to be covered but it has to be easy for all demographics to understand.
The right team- Fresh faces in the newsroom may be able to offer a twist on how The Chronicle currently present themselves and their company. A different range of ages and interests in the company means that the company could reach out to their audience from different directions.
Inside The Bath Chronicles newsroom.
The demographic that I have been asked to target with my research and product are people between the ages of 14-25 from the Bath and North East Somerset area. Within this demographic there are school children studying compulsory school subjects with little freedom when it comes accessing what happens in and around the Bath area on a day to day basis. Most school teenagers also have little or no interest in the news as it’s likely they find it boring as well as the fact that before you’re 16 you are unable to legally earn a wage or have your say about more serious matters in the news.
Students in further education studying a subject of their choice have a more developed maturity when it comes to interests in the news and hobbies as a lot more is accessible when you reach 16. They are also likely to have more knowledge about what’s happening locally and around the world.
Students from City of Bath college getting involved in self organised fundraising events around the city.
Young people from the ages of 18-25 are considered to be adults therefore receive more pressure to show an interest and understanding in news and what happens locally and internationally however as they are still young their focus is mainly around finding themselves and having fun. Although there are different sections within the given demographic, the needs of all of them don’t differ a lot:
Quick consumption- The younger demographic don’t have time to spend studying detailed, long articles or watching long informative news items. Anything that they can consume quickly but gain information from is much prefered.
Entertainment- Layout and content should be fun and interesting to attract a younger demographic, anything to dull or plain looks very serious and somewhat depressing.
Online- Almost every teenager above the age of 14 accesses social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. Gossip style information that young people can become a part of is engaging.
Accessibility- People between the ages of 14-25 are likely to earn little or no money, therefore buying a newspaper won’t be on their list of priorities, they need something that is free and easy to access quickly without requiring and unnecessary effort.
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