Andy Raynes

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LO2 - How Media Producers Create
Products for Specific Audiences

Task 2a)

Chosen website: www.YouTube.com


Selection of Content

At a glance of the website, the main colours are red, white and black. These colours do not have
any specific gender preferences, but it does indicate that its mixed. In general, a website for
children would probably use bright colours like bright blue (males) and pink (females), as well
as potential cartoon character this shows that it may not be intended for children, but for
people older.



The font used is also very simple, not being too complex to read. The bigger fonts contain the
main display information, as opposed to small one in the descriptions of the videos, which
contain less important information.


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Because YouTube is a video sharing website, on the homepage they display several of the latest
videos (of any genre) by using various sizes of image thumbnails to attract the audiences eye.
Adverts are also displayed to enhance the revenue of the company, and, if a user has an account;
adverts can become relevant to ones interest depending on the videos they have watched. This
is another method of using a website to direct ads to a certain audience.


You will only get sound when your chosen video is clicked on to be played. By having a selection
of videos of random genre on the front page, it can appeal to a variety of audiences as well as
having a choice whether or not they want to watch the video. In my opinion, the target audience
would be for teenagers and young adults as this area tends to spend the most time using the
internet to satisfy needs.



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Construction of Content

On the homepage the layout of the list of top categories (shown below) are split on the left side
page, being very small. In order to appeal more audiences, this should be placed around the
centre with a bigger font.



On the other hand, it is very spaced out and not cluttered. This can make it easier for new users
to get around the website.

By having a few categories shown with several selected videos, YouTube are trying to get lucky
with finding the nature of certain people in the audience to click on it. For instance Sport
(mostly appeals towards males) is displayed.



There is also a comment section underneath videos to get different users to interact with each
other and comment on the video. This can attract more people to the site, and because it is on a
particular video it may bring an audience with a similar interest e.g. sport. However, because
YouTube is aimed at a teenage-adult audience, there may be immature people.




Andy Raynes


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Codes and Conventions

YouTube do not implement a vast amount of information about the website, but immediately
attract the audience in by getting straight to showing popular videos. However, if a user is to
upload a video, the audience do have the option to see instructions on how to upload a file to the
internet, which very young and elder users may not be familiar with.


By using the logo with the red, white and black colours; it can make the audience think of the
website if seen. Also, by implementing these colours across the whole website, it will enhance
this feel.

When Uploading instructions is clicked it brings up an easy step-by-step guide to users who
arent very familiar with uploading a file to a website. It also asks the question in bold, in case
this is exactly what a user might be thinking. As mentioned, this would probably be for younger
children or elderly people who are not familiar with this technology.


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Questionnaire YouTube.com

a) What is your gender?
Male
Female

b) What is your age range?
8-12
13-17
18-22
23-27
28+

c) How long do you spend on the internet daily?
0-2 hours
3-5 hours
6-8 hours
9-11 hours
12+ hours

d) How long do you spend on YouTube per day?
0-2 hours
3-5 hours
6-8 hours
9-11 hours
12+ hours

e) When using the internet, which other websites do your also frequently visit?
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Reddit
Other
_________________
None of the above











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f) When using YouTube, what do you usually search for (by genre)? Tick all that apply.
News and Politics
Music
How-to, Style Film
People and Blogs
Science, Technology
Sports
Animation
Comedy
Education
Entertainment
Gaming

i) What do you enjoy about the ticked categories above?








ii) What do you dislike about the unticked categories?






g) What do you use YouTube for? Tick all that apply.
Entertainment
Education
Work
Other
_________________________







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h) Is there anything you like about the style and tone of the website? (E.g. use of colours,
layout, simplicity etc.)









i) If you had to pay to watch YouTube videos, would you?
Yes
No
i) Why?







j) Would you improve anything?




k) How happy are you with the website on a scale of 1-10? Circle your answer.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10











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Audience Feedback (Questionnaire answers from peers)

- Mixed genders for feedback
- Mostly in the 13-22 age range
- Average hours spent on internet = 2 hours
- Commonly used with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Gmail, Netflix and Tumblr
- Most search for Gaming, Music, Entertainment and Comedy
- Unticked genres are News, Sports and Educations, as they werent worth peoples time
- Used for entertainment mainly
- User friendly
- Simple dual tone colour scheme which is easy on the eyes
- Improved comment section to stop YouTube trolls
- Scored a high 8 out of 10 on average

Pictures of completed questionnaires:






























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Task 2b)
Report

If a company was to create a website with a mass audience, or one for mainly teenagers and
adults (ages from 10-65), it is important to provide an easy-to-use user interface, where step-
by-step instructions can be located that arent too complex. Of course it will be hard to appeal to
such a wide audience, but if it is a website which includes a wide variety of search categories
and tools, it is important to have them carefully listed in the layout. Also, colours and font
should be simplistic, and easy to recognise. Anything important such as images and text should
be carefully sized based on importance and interest.



This website is aimed at a very broad audience which covers both males and females. This can
be seen from the use of non-gender specific colours such as white and red. The YouTube
homepage is very easy to navigate and has a very minimalist style that is not overcomplicated;
this is similar to Google and is easier on the eye to navigate. This means that not only does the
site appeal to both males and females, but it is easily accessible by a wide age range, with helpful
instructions. This means it appeals to a mass audience. Because anyone can upload their own
videos onto YouTube, it therefore automatically appeals to everyone. However, many young
children and elderly people may not know how to use computer technology, therefore may
appeal to ages from 10-65.

Currently, YouTube videos are broken down into eleven categories which are:

- News and Politics
- Music
- How-to, Style Film
- People and Blogs
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- Science, Technology
- Sports
- Animation
- Comedy
- Education
- Entertainment
- Gaming


These categories cover most interests and therefore help the website to appeal to a larger
audience.



I created a questionnaire in order to be able to find out what the average user of YouTube is.
Unfortunately I had to give most of my questionnaires out to younger audiences and all of my
participants were from the same demographic area so a lot of my results are based off of this.
That being said, I am sure that much older audiences use YouTube as well.

After giving out my questionnaire I was able to find out that a mix of both males and females use
YouTube however, even though the website is not gender specific, this number consists mostly
of males. I was able to deduce that the average age of the users of YouTube range from 14 18
years old and that this age range usually spends 3 5 hours on the internet daily in which an
average of 2 hours of this is spent on YouTube. These averages of people also appear to
frequently visit social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Netflix, Tumblr and
Gmail.

By looking at the results that I received I realised that there was a correlation between the age
of the participant and the number of hours that they spent on the internet and on YouTube per
day. This correlation showed that older participants spent less time on the internet compared to
younger applicants.

When on YouTube, the most frequently searched topics are Gaming, Music, Entertainment and
Comedy. When asked why they searched for things regarding these categories, most people
stated that it is something that helps to pass the time (for entertainment) and that it is also
relaxing. I then asked my candidates why they didnt prefer to search for other topics such as
News. I was able to find out that the average teenager will use YouTube after school once they
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get home and therefore want to watch something that has no relation to learning and instead is
quite relaxing and doesnt take much mental effort to watch. I presumed that this was because
most students where quite tired after a day of school and felt like watching something to wind
them down for the evening instead of something educational, which might be boring or a
waste of time.

Through my questionnaire I was able to discover that the younger audiences tend to use
YouTube for entertainment purposes whereas older audiences tend to use the website for more
educational purposes and as a research tool (possibly for certain software). I was also able to
find out that Younger audiences use the internet a lot more than older audiences.



















YouTube is also accessible by multiple social classes and groups. Because there are no
subscription fees anyone can access YouTube as long as they have a computer and access to the
internet which nowadays is pretty much everyone. This means that YouTube appeals to the
working and middle class, as well as the higher classes. For example, a plumber could use
YouTube in order to help with his work and a teacher could use it in order to help teach his/her
students. This supports the fact that YouTube appeals to a mass audience.

Overall, most people said they were happy with the looks of the website being easy to
navigate; user-friendly; and has a simple dual tone colour scheme which is easy on the
eyes. On average, YouTube scored 8 out of 10 on how happy people were with it, which is very
successful. Not much went into improvements section, however one did write a statement about
YouTube trolls (unconstructive criticism) in the comments section, where people who do this
should be suspended or deleted. It is clear that no particular audience wants this feedback
and is something that should be worked on by YouTube.
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