I will be discussing the two main forms of research undertaken by the media industries. I will focus mainly on Market research (primary and secondary), Production research, Audience segmentation (Age, gender, culture/ethnicity, demographics, psychographics) and Copyright.
Market research:
Market research is based on gathering data about people or companies – a market – and then analyzing it to have a better understanding of what that group of people needs. The results of market research, which are usually summed up in a report, are then used to help business owners make more informed decisions about the company’s strategies, operations, and potential customer base. For example market research would be suitable to find out if there is a slot in the market for the production which relates to the future income by suggesting how popular it would be. There are two types of market research, primary and secondary.
Primary – Primary data is first-hand information you gather yourself, or with the help of a market research firm, you are in control of everything.
Secondary – Secondary data is an already existing public information, such as the data shared in magazines and newspapers, government or industry reports. You can analyze the data in new ways, but the information is available to a large number of people.
Moreover, using primary or secondary data, there are two types of research studies:
- Exploratory. Exploratory market research gathers lots of open-ended data from many people to better understand a problem or opportunity. The goal is to gather opinions regarding an issue, so your company can decide how to address it. But first you have to understand how your market sees the issue.
- Specific. Once you understand the larger market issues, or opportunities, you can use specific questions to gather information that could lead to a new product or service. Market research firms often use specific questions to gather feedback on a new advertising campaign, or to refine a planned new product.
Production research:
Production research is about the media production itself. Finding out whether the productions future income is going to be greater than its creations outcome and if it is viable. As well as the creations costs production research is also used to see which advertising events would be suitable and budgeting the costs of pre-production, production and post-production. It is always needed when developing a new product. It is research to help give information on the characteristics of the product.
Audience segmentation:
The purpose of audience research is to help companies discover what target audience would be best suitable for the type of product that they are producing such as age, gender, ethnic background, location, income and what media they already have. This is an important method to any company trying to create a successful product as targeting a product at the wrong type of audience can cause problems throughout any research, the production of the product and how this may be advertised.
Copyright:
Copyright is legal right that protects the use of your work once your idea has been physically expressed. For example on youtube, if you use someone else’s music from their video onto yours that is known as a copyright. In the cinema, if you film the screen where the movie is playing and post it on any social media that is also known as copyright. The current copyright legislation in the UK is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Caren Lamaa 