Fiducia TogetherMedia audiences
Who a product is for, how they are reached, and what they do with it.
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.
What it is
Audience covers targeting, categorisation (demographics and psychographics), and theories of response — the idea that audiences use media actively for their own purposes rather than simply receiving it.
Where it applies
GCSE and A Level media studies.
How it works
Audiences are targeted through content, scheduling, platform and marketing. They are also active: the same text is read differently by different groups, and a preferred reading can be resisted.
Regulation and age classification connect here.
How to use it in your work
Identify the target audience with evidence from the text itself, not a guess.
Use theory where your specification names it, and apply it rather than describing it.
Remember secondary audiences — who else consumes it, and why that matters commercially.
Where to get help
Your teacher and your board's assessment criteria — these subjects are marked against four or five stated objectives, and reading them is the single most useful hour you can spend.
Revise this with a song
These are ours. We write revision songs because a lot of people remember a tune when they cannot remember a page, and because revising out loud in the kitchen beats staring at a highlighter.
- The Media Studies Song The GCSE media studies topics, set to music.
Where to read more
Last reviewed 2026-08-28 by Fiducia Together · Next review due 2027-08-28
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.