Genre and target audience research

 Which 3 genres were most successful at the UK box office?
The three most successful genres at the UK box office were Animation, Action and Comedy. (in 2013)

 Which 3 genres were least popular or successful at the UK box office?
The three least popular genres at the UK box office were romance, War and Documentary. (in 2013)

 Which film genre had the most films released in 2013-14 (not the most successful but the biggest number of films made)? 
Comedy has had the most films released as 153 comedy films were released in 2013. This was then followed by Drama films with 141 releases and Documentary with 89 releases. The most popular genre, Animation, had 33 films released. 47 Action films were released.


This shows us that Comedy is the most popular genre amongst directors as they had the most films released. However, even with it's large amount of film releases compared to animation and action, Comedy still wasn't the most successful genre. Animation had the least number of films released amongst the top three most successful genres and yet animation done the best. People might look more forward to animation films compared to Comedies as they aren't released as frequent each year around.

Comedy and action are both really broad genres in a way that they both target different audience. Some action films might be targeted at older more mature audience whereas others aren't as gory and offensive. This means that both genres have a really wide and large target audience as they're almost able to target all age-groups. Individual animation films however, all tend to be targeted at families, which also means that each individual film is targeted at all ages. Also, Animation might be more popular amongst females compared to action films.

Which age group made up the largest proportion of cinema admissions in the UK?
The age group that visited the cinema the most ranges from about 15-24 with the Hangover Part III being the most popular comedy film visited by the age range.

Which film was the most popular with the over 50s? What genre is this film?
The most popular film with people over the age of 50 was Sunshine on Leith and Quartet which are both Drama/Comedy films.

Which genres were most popular with men/women?
In 2012. Thriller, action and comedy where the most popular with men (Captain phillips, Star Trek into Darkness) Whereas women had a much broader range of genre (Frozen, About time.) However, in 2013, women did prefer UK films.

7-14 age group, preferred films and genre.
The most popular films for children aged 7-14 were, Wreck-it Ralph, Despicable Me 2 and Monster University which are all animation films.

25-34 age group, preferred films.
People aged 25-34 enjoyed Django Unchained, Fast & Furious 6 and Rush the most.

People from London preferred action films whereas the people from Scotland preferred drama films.

Target audience

What is a 'target audience?'

A target audience is the specific group of people at which a certain product is aimed at. For example, an animated film such as 'Nemo' specifically targets younger audiences as they're likely to enjoy the film more. However, that doesn't mean that everyone who is older won't enjoy the film. 

There are different groups of audiences that a film could target. These could include:

• Gender
• Age
• Ethnic background
• Location (They currently live in/ grew up in)
• Lifestyle & Interests.

Having a target audience helps with the promotion of the film as the promoters will have a good idea of how to design their advertisements or even where to place them. A film targeted towards children might have adverts running on tv channels with cartoon shows. 

It can also help with the production of the film because having a target audience can help the scriptwriters of the script or even influence the story of the film itself.