Purposes Of Research

Purposes Of Research

During this assignment I will be exploring and assessing the purposes of research in order to gain a better understanding of the real reason why research into media products is being constructed and why it is essential. There are two key purposes for research; to learn new things about certain objectives, and to gather valuable evidence which can help back up your project if need be.

Research is crucial when it comes to media productions, without the correct research failure is almost certainly guaranteed. The production process can be very difficult depending on the topic as some of the audience may find the topic unappealing, this can cause problems when it comes to gathering research however, regardless of the topic; research will always be the first stepping stone. All the technologies that we use daily have been thoroughly researched and planned to provide people with vast amounts of entertainment and pleasure such as TV, music and interactive websites, all these sectors allow people to keep up to date with their loved ones and the world.

In media industries there two major forms of research that need to be gathered, Market Research and Production Research. 

Market research is a very competitive form of research which media producers must perform in order to gain success, they must undertake detailed research about their target market within the topic, they will have to battle with other industries to gain audiences and income or ask other organisations to research on their behalf, this then allows them to exchange for revenue. Without this process no progress can be made, therefore it will lead to complications later on. The content that companies are trying to release must be appealing towards the audience so they must be as accurate and believable as possible.

The research undertaken can allow products to provide modern and accurate production research, this will produce the most successful media productions due to the fact that it allows them to communicate with the audience effectively. The competition in a way will provide more variety for the audience as new ideas pop up every time, this can prove to be challenging for all media productions; so the main priority for all media productions is to know the target audience and how to gain their trust (extremely crucial).

Market research involves looking at the statistical increase or decrease of data which provides information on how large the audience is (based on the topic). 

• A prime example would be How many people watch The Game Of Thrones and what (as an individual) makes them watch the show consecutively, its due its gory, violence and unusual romance. All these features make this show breathtaking for the audience.
• The Tomorrow people is example which is exactly the opposite of Game Of Thrones. The show only lasted for one season the effects were really good, but the story was really repetitiveand due to this people stopped watching and the show was cancelled, losing lots of money in the process.
• 'Competitors' you either love them or hate them, because they can either provide you with struggles or a sense of inspiration to improvebut that still is not a reason to stop crafting new products for the audience. Market research covers the basics of competitions and how similar products can in fact be very different. For example consoles, XBOXONE and PS4 they are both products with the same ambitions and interaction, however certain features mark the two as rivals and 'different', such as the games, controls and designs. This
• This research also involves looking at particular media products and how they are used by people around the world; a great example would be 'what people think of games consoles and whats their favourite feature(s) about it'

If the audience research goes well and the market analysis is favourable a media company might decide to launch a new product in that market, in this case they need production research. This type of research is done to gather material to allow a company to develop new products, investigate the technology and personnel available and “plan production and post- production to ensure it all runs smoothly. This type of research can be used to gain an insight on the availability of pre-production equipment and post- production facilities and talents for the product and personnel.

There are implications of not doing production research, like for example if a media company did not carry out production research and just launch a product they might not use the correct materials needed for the product which might result in the product not selling well which will be a significant loss for the company. An also if they don’t do the research they might not target the audience they need.

Media producers must make sure that the products that are being produced are functional and possible to release, because if anything goes wrong large amounts of money will be lost, high chance of losing the audience due to technical difficulties. For example The SAMSUNG NOTE 7, this device was thought to be the perfect creation until they started to blow up and injure people; this cost them dearly losing millions of profit in advance. This is why it is absolutely crucial to carry out research and work things out during the pre-production sequences such as;
Audience Segmentation
Advertising
Viability

Audience segmentation is a term used when placing the audience into different categories, this process is done to help the producers identify and target a variety of people with but with the same preferences. For the producers to gain the trust of the audience they must use the common classifications Age, Gender, Culture/Ethnicity and income and social class. These classifications allow the producer to place the groups, all depending on the person them self.

Age is a very crucial category within the media industry and is almost always used to split up the audience. Media researchers tend to use options such as "16-24" or "15 years or younger" etc. For example Warning: this product contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults). Researchers and advertisers are really intersested in what different ages have in store, they are keen to see they're skills, preferences, setbacks, uniqueness and how the progress and evolve as they grow older. Each age group tends to have their unique products produced to help inspire other people in the same age group.

Gender is also an important category for audience segmentation as certain products may be targeted at specific gender groups. Gender groups are usually seen in magazines and advertisements, for example L'oreal Paris, this is a beauty based advertisement aimed towards females, they describe the products aswell as the outcomes they produce.

Culture and Ethnicity, media industries all around the planet tend to publish their products on many sectors in the marketplace such as Television programmes, computers, radio, newspapers; these are very easy to obtain in UK. Producers also try and sell their products across the globe, to help others enjoy the product and also to help the product grow financially. They achieve these tasks by learning about different cultures and ethnic groups, just to give them a quick insight on what they could do to allow people to enjoy the product more.

Income and social class, this part of the audience can be divided according to the income the person earns every year (annual, salary, hourly) this may also depend on their social class. A persons income can be very important, as it may determine whether or not the product can be sold around the area/country, but its mainly used to ensure more profit worldwide.

Advertising is one of the most crucial sources of income for any advertiser when it comes to making profit. We as the audience watch and interact with the adverts this is how advertisers make money, because when we watch, we want to buy. Advertisers are very keen on media products such as television programmes, magazines and newspapers as it provides them with inspiration and also a revenue to publish advertisments. For example, Game Of Thrones possibly the most famous Tv show is watched worldwide and is keen on forming partnerships with sponsors such as League Of Legends (which has sponsored the show for 3 years). Sponsors can be very sensitive when it comes to profit and popularity, the the company that they are sponsoring fail to live up to expectations they will immediately withdraw from the partnership.

If a media organisation is in the pre-production schedule the sane thing to do is gather the necessary information on how other existing products produced their products and how they compare alongside each other. The better the success rate of the other products the better the target audience may think of the products. Gaining research based on comparison within the marketplace is another form of research. For example, XBOX acquire income from their online servers, people buy games, movies and online. However, they also gain some profit from microsofts other productions. They are still in competition with Playstaion and sony; as they have similar policies.

Viability is a part of production research which overlooks the product on different levels to see if its okay to publish. The viability of the product must be checked to ensure success in the future.

• Are the right equipments available to you?
• What assistance will you require?
• Are you qualified to undertake this production process?
• Have you got enough time to produce?

Income, financially you would have to explore a variety of ways to fund from the published product, once thats done you have to balance out the amount of profit made and slowly use the money to fund the production and distribution.

Copyright, is legal right that protects the use of your work once your idea has been physically expressed. Legal protection is advised so that their original material can't be used in somebody else's name. Copyright is a confusing subject, the issues can be obscure, vague and puzzling. Many people that if something is available on the internet, not used in order to make money or out of print, then it is OK to use it in any way they want to.