2. Type of programmes – and some examples… What could you say about the shows on the channel?
All channel should
have subtitle all the
time everyday.
All channel show
Dly sos disaster load repeated.
house
They have old police and
crime in post. There will be few Glomar girl
comedy show on
There have repeated all live and go on
over again also it boring laugh daily
all the time
Food have money food
program to watch and come
Dave have about Gardeners world dine with me on food channel
business on it that Animal Man vs. Food
would aims men to
watch that channel
Watch have some bit
Like top gear and movie watch on sky TV
Gavin and Stacey my family
3. Choose 3 channels – and define the target audience – using CARGEL – explaining WHY Look at the programme listings
you think they are the target audience… to help you and think about the
name of the channel
1. 2. 3.
Your 3 Channel’s NARROWCAST to A NICHE audience – try to explain what this means
4. Why do they show the same Can you think of any other channels What are the strengths and
programmes day in day out? that narrowcast – to niche audiences weaknesses of a ‘niche’ TV channel?
BBC and virgin media own UKTV they rely Aljazeera is narrowcast and a niche A niche channel is strong to the target
on money from advert they show a lot audience as it is only of interest to Asian audience that it attracts as people all
BBC repeat to save money. people and Muslims have different interest. It is weak
because it will only ever have a certain
amount of viewers so viewing number
will never be high like BBC1 or ITV.
5. To conclude - explain how these channels (DAVE, GOLD etc) appeal to different ranges of audience than the films we
have already looked at - even though arguably they are all “mainstream”. How are they able to do this? (Cheaper,
repeats, no production costs)
Some of you should attempt to comment critically - i.e. is a ‘niche’ TV channel a good idea? Why & why not?
6. THE CHANNELS SHOW THE SAME TYPE OF PROGRAMMES BECAUSE THEY ARE
TRYING TO APPEAL TO A SMALL AUDIENCE THAT LIKES SPECIFIC PROGRAMMES –
KNOWN AS A “NICHE” AUDIENCE. THEY ARE “NARROWCASTING” THE
PROGRAMMES TO A NICHE AUDIENCE.
DEFINITIONS:
NICHE AUDIENCE
When a TV show (or website or magazine or radio station) is aimed at a person’s
individual interests - they are said to be a “niche” audience. It appeals to a niche or
small or specialist audience.
NARROWCAST
To transmit programmes (especially by cable / satellite television) confined to the
interests of a specific group of viewers, subscribers, or listeners, such as business
people, or teenagers.
This is the opposite to BROADCAST - e.g. Eastenders appeals to a wide audience (it
has 80 year old and 16 year old characters, of different classes and different ethnic
groups) of 8 million per episode - therefore it is “broad”cast. Appealing to a wide
(broad) audience.
