After recieving my target audience questionnaire feedback, I want to analyse the data. This is because I think that the information will be useful when creating my soap, as it will help me to appeal to my target audience. I asked 4 males and 6 females, all aged 15-19.
1. Do you watch soap operas?
9 out of 10 participants watch soap operas. This was roughly what I expected, as I know that soap operas are popular amongst young people.
2. What soap operas do you watch?
The participants were able to chose more than one soap opera, because I felt that the more information that I found out, the more useful my target audience research would be for me. Because one of my participants does not watch soap operas, this question was only relevant to 9 participants. Eastenders was the most popular soap opera, and this is what I expected because it appeals to a mass audience. Hollyoaks is the second most watched, and I think this is because it is aimed specifically at a younger audience, due to the younger characters and relevant storylines. Coronation Street is watched by 5 people and I think this is because it does still appeal to a mass audience, but is not as popular as Eastenders. None of my participants watched Emmerdale, and I think this is because it could be argued that it is aimed at an older audience because it features older characters and is set in the countryside.
3. How often do you watch soap operas?
Again, this question is only relevant to the 9 participants that watch soap operas. I think that as they all watch soap operas at least 3 times a week, and some of them everyday, it shows dedication. This could be because soap operas often end with a cliff hanger, and therefore the audience will want to watch the next episode to see what happens. It could also be to do with the genre convention of multi-stranded storylines, which again would interest the audience to continue to watch the soap opera to see what will happen.
4. Why do you watch soap operas?
None of the 9 participants that this question was relevant to watched soap operas for educational purposes or for 'other' purposes. 8 of the participants watched soap operas for entertainment purposes, and I believe that this is one of the main purposes of soap operas anyway. Audiences tend to watch soap operas as a form of escapism from everyday life, and to simply be entertained. 1 participant watches soap operas simply because other people they live with do, however they must be entertained by it if they carry on watching them.
5. What is your favourite aspect of the soap(s) that you watch?
It seems as though the most important aspects of soap operas according to my participants are the characters and the storylines. This probably relates back to the previous question, and how entertainment is the most important reason for the participants to watch a soap. Characters are recognisable and are created for the audience so that they are easy to relate to, as well as entertainment purposes. The storylines deal with social issues and are often dramatic, which again entices and interests the audience. One participant thought that the technical media side to soap operas are the most important. I think this is because the most basic aspects of a successful soap opera are to do with the camera shots and angles, the mise-en-scene, sound and editing.
6. What storylines are you personally interested in?
It seems that most participants are interested in storylines that concerned the middle aged characters. However, some were also interested in the storylines regarding elderly characters as well as teenagers and children. This tells me that even though my target audience are of a specific age, they are interested in storylines that do not necessarily feature characters of the same age group as them. This could be due to the varied age range of characters in soap operas aimed at a mass audience such as Eastenders, which was the most watched soap amongst my participants.
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