Target Audience

For my project to reach the right and interested people, it needs to have a specific target audience to which it can be marketed to raise awareness. This year, I decided to develop my target audience through secondary research (research conducted by others). This will consist of surveys found on the internet about topics such as art, Eastern Europe, the internet, social media, and documentaries. The answers to the following questions will help with finding the target audience in the context that the documentary will be an educational and informational one. This means that kids from Eastern Europe who are interested in pursuing an art major may be interested to know the challenges and struggles of artists in Eastern Europe, and it may influence their life decisions. Our goal is to bring awareness, and it does not have an age limit.

Research

Who Watches Documentaries?

From the Films Audiences in Europe findings, Moving Docs survey by Huw D Jones in July 2020 we can understand the following uncertain data:

• 72% of people watch documentaries more then 6 times per year

• people in the age group of 25-54 were significantly more likely to watch documentaries

• Media professionals and full- and part-time workers were also more likely to watch documentaries

• However, there was no significant variation by gender, education, residence, income, or nationality.

• According to the European Commission’s Current and Future Audiovisual Audiences report, only around a quarter (23%) of EU citizens say they ‘often’ watch documentary films on any media platform

• Moving Docs Survey does confirm the Audiovisual Audience report finding that middle-aged people in Europe are significantly more likely to watch documentary films than young people

To keep in mind that this survey was made in 2020 in America. I have attached a screenshot from the original survey results and data

Another survey made in the USA by Parrot Analytics shows the demographic distribution of the top 100 Documentaries compared to Reality TV series. This study was conducted in 2023, which may be more accurate in 2025 compared to ones done during the global pandemic, where people were forced to stay at home.

This study shows that documentaries are watched more by older people, specifically middle to older men and older women. Younger girls also show an interest in documentaries, but insignificant compared to older ones.

How are documentaries viewed?

To answer this question, I found some articles that help. 14 November 2024

Radu Dumitrescu made a survey showing that 1 in 10 Romanians frequently go to the cinemas and 50% use streaming services, other studies about movies in general show the increased usage of streaming services over physical cinema

" A third of Romanians attended cinemas in 2023, but only 10% are frequent moviegoers. Instead, 53% prefer using streaming platforms, though under half of Romanian households have subscriptions, according to the latest 2023 Cultural Consumption Barometer. " - Radu Dumitrescu

"A survey by Octane Seating revealed that 78% of Americans prefer to watch movies at home via streaming rather than in theaters. Millennials lead this trend, with 70% streaming movies daily. However, 33% of Gen Z respondents attend cinemas more than once a month, indicating some demographic variation" - The streamable

"The advent of streaming services has transformed documentary consumption. Platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime have made documentaries more accessible, allowing viewers to watch from the comfort of their homes. This shift has led to a broader audience base, as evidenced by several Academy Award-nominated documentaries being available on these platforms" - Jason Notte in Portland, Ore.

These articles, together with other research I made, showed me that the distribution of the documentary, which will be done online by streaming services, won't affect any kind of target audience set, as the percentage of people preferring streaming services is almost the same across age differences.

Why Watch Documentaries?

To better understand my target audience, I need to know why people watch documentaries in the first place. According to Dennis Harris, who wrote an Article about this topic on Quora.

Escapism, Entertainment Value, Storytelling Flexibility, Emotional Connection, Cultural and Social Influence are the main reasons why people are watching documentaries. All these reasons relate to people's need to understand and learn. This spark of curiosity can be triggered by multiple factors such as boredom, curiosity, and necessity. Furthermore, these factors do not have anything to do with age and gender, but they show that the demand for documentaries will be related to these factors. This may not be accurate for my geographic demographic as it is based on Americans

What social media platforms are used based on age?

A recent research made by Mahnoor Sheikh shows the usage of social media pages per age group on a global scale.

• 18-29 years – YouTube (93%), Instagram (76%), Facebook (68%), Snapchat (65%)

• 30-49 years – YouTube (94%), Facebook (78%), Instagram (66%), Pinterest (43%)

• 50-64 years – YouTube (86%), Facebook (70%), Instagram (36%), LinkedIn (30%)

• 65+ – YouTube (65%), Facebook (59%), Pinterest (22%), Instagram (19%)

  -social media usage by age range

We wanted to make the Social media page on Instagram as we are familiar with the app and with the user interface. This study says quote "Instagram boasts a substantial user base and is particularly popular among the 25 to 34 age group, with 28.3% representing its largest audience. The 18 to 24 age group follows closely at 26.5%, highlighting Instagram’s appeal to Millennials and Gen Z." This shows that Instagram is used by all ages till 50, which is exactly what we expected.

Who is interested in art?

This study, made by the National Arts Council of Singapore, showcases the types of people who interact with Art and in what way. The study was made in 2023 and it is based on the global audience, which may influence its credibility, but as no major world-changing events had occurred in the past 2 years, I still find the results relevant today.

What is the frequency and format of watching documentaries?

This research shows the frequency based on the age of people watching documentaries. The study is made in America by Carnegie Mellon Master of Entertainment Industry Management students Sasly Ma, Mariel Nardi, Mohammed Mandraswala, and Manuel Vallarino, and it's from a 2 series part of analysis into Surveys, Interviews, and Recommendations for Documentary Distribution

The results show that most of the people in all age groups watch documentaries at least a few times a month.

Now, from the same study, there is a finding that most people prefer a series-based documentary rather than a short form or feature.

Decisions

What platforms to use for releasing?

Based on the research and our personal preferences, we have decided to use Instagram as a social media distribution format, but also other platforms like YouTube for trailers and Facebook. These mediums of distribution will allow us to reach everyone as they are the 3 most used platforms across all ages. We will only develop the Instagram page because of the time limit, but if it were the case for real development and marketing, we would use those platforms. For the major task, we will distribute the documentary digitally by partnering with a streaming service such as Max or Netflix because it is accepted by all age groups and almost everyone already has a subscription, increasing the possibility of interacting with our content.

Where should the documentary be available?

To answer this question, no research is needed, as we want to attract as many people as possible from all across the world, but our 2 main goals consist of raising awareness in other countries outside of Eastern Europe like the examples I gave Germany, France, England and to highlight the talents that this part of europe can have. But also inside Eastern Europe so that kids can watch the documentary and maybe get influenced intro their decision for the future.

Conclusion

Demographics

Age: 16-50. It will address ages 16-24 for educational purposes and those above 24 for entertainment and raising awareness

Ethnicity: Irrelevant

Gender: male and female. We do not want to address only one gender as we find it irrelevant to do that, male and female audiences may be attracted as we have interviews with both genders

Religion: Irrelevant

Psychographic

Character trait: Students, Art Enthusiasts, because the main topic of the documentary will be about art, and students may be interested in making a decesion regarding future studies

Where: Streaming platforms/Social media. Streaming platforms are the most efficient, and studies show that audiences prefer a series-based documentary, which cannot work at a cinema. Social media will be used for promotion, especially Instagram, but also Facebook for older audiences and YouTube for Trailers and behind the scenes.

Why: Education, Entertainment. Those are the two main purposes on which we base our audience

Geographical target: Europe. We want to attract mostly Europeans so that the discrimination against Eastern European countries can be lowered and raise awareness to people in Eastern Europe about the realities of being an artist

After all this research and development of my target audience, I can confidently say that I know who my project needs to attract and how it can manage that.