6             AUDIENCE PROFILES

An important aspect of the audience research is to study the characteristics of the audience, and the context and the peoples’ perception about their needs. 

Why Develop Audience Profiles?

To be effective, programmes should be need based, interesting and appealing. Research studies have shown that the audience at once identify themselves with such programmes that depict their environment, values, culture, context, real
	situations and the people. As a researcher, you can help the producer a great deal to produce relevant, interesting and realistic programmes by making available to the producer profiles of the audience along with the assessment of their needs. In India, the first systematic attempt to develop audience profiles was made in the seventies during the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE). Audience profiles were painstakingly developed for each of the six different clusters in six States  included in the SITE Project.
Similar efforts were made in subsequent educational broadcasting experiments, both in India and elsewhere.

 However, the experience about the actual use of the profiles by the producers for programme production is mixed. While some producers in some areas make a good use of the information, others do not find these useful. 

Factors Affecting Utilization of Audience Profiles 

Lessons learnt from SITE and similar media projects in other countries show that factors affecting the development and utilization of the audience profiles include:- 

• Profile type - general or specific
• Understanding peoples’ concept about the existing practices
• Involvement of the producers
• Functional document
• Simple style
• Visual support
• Usefulness and timeliness of the information provided

Profile Type - General or Specific 

The proof of a good profile lies in its potential for utilization by the producer in understanding the target audience. One reason why audience profiles gather dust in the cupboards is that researchers generally end up providing only one generalized profile touching briefly upon the various dimensions of the life of the audience and do not follow it up with the preparation of specific problem oriented profiles. 

General Profile
It may contain the following pieces of information:
About the Region
Location, geographical features, climate, topography, historical background, etc.
About the Audience
Social factors such as religion, community, social organizations, housing, clothing and other lifestyles, customs, festivals, daily routines, leisure time activities, etc.

Demographic factors such as age groups, sex, family type and structure, size of families, whether nomadic, migrant, or settled, languages spoken, etc 

Economic factors such as general income levels, spending and saving patterns, vocations and occupations, major and alternate sources of income and resources, etc. 

Health factors such as general status, common health problems and diseases, medical facilities available, resources, status of maternal and child health, mortality rate and population growth patterns, and other health problems. 

Hygiene issues such as general status, community and personal hygiene etc. 

Food habits such as the staple food, the availability of food, cooking and storage habits, food consumption patterns, nutritional levels in the home and community. 

Learning factors such as educational status, access to education, access to different media, availability of media, literacy levels of both individuals and community, visual abilities, listening abilities, time of availability for media exposure, type of content exposed to, programme preferences, etc. 

Specific Profiles 

General information about the audience, though necessary, is of limited use to the producer to help produce relevant and realistic programmes. Producers need specific problem oriented profiles, which are more elaborate and in-depth. 

Let us say that the incidence of malnutrition is widespread and scientific information on nutrition has emerged as one of the needs of the audience. It then becomes imperative for you to inform the producer about the following with additional information:-

• Food processing methods
• Cooking habits
• Food storage
• Meal times
• Differential pattern of food consumption as per age and sex
• Locally available nutritious foods
• Existing knowledge about nutrition
• Motivation about nutrition
• Foods not compatible with culture and religious beliefs
• Myths, fads, notions about foods
• Fears, apprehensions about certain foods
• Gender bias in serving food
• Foods during illness, and other relevant information

Also try to understand and report the context in which certain practices are followed, which on the face may look traditional and backward. This is important so that recommendations about the alternative, improved practices could be framed in a more realistic manner. For an example, researchers in a region observed that most farmers there followed the practice of planting mixed crops such as gram with wheat, and a leguminous pulse crop with millet. This was against the recommended practice of planting different crops separately and adopting improved cultural practices for each. But further probing revealed that the mixed cropping was based on the following perceptions of the farmers.

It involves minimum risk under rain-fed conditions; If one crop fails, the other may survive.  It guarantees subsistence over a longer period as one crop matures earlier than the other.

• It is the most efficient use of land.
• Mixing a legume with a cereal crop sustains soil fertility. 

Considering the setting, the context and the farmers’ perception, the experts decided to suggest improved methods of mixed cropping itself rather than a complete change in the existing practice to start with. 

Involvement of the Producer  The profiles have a greater chance of being used, if you involve the producer from the beginning itself, for instance, by taking the producer to the field during data collection to sensitize them to the audience needs, and the realities on the ground. It is a question of building trust with the producers. Let them be convinced that you are there only to share their burden, and obtain answers for their problems faced while communicating effectively with the audience.  Functional Document  A profile is based on painstaking research but is not a research report in the strict sense of the term. It is rather a functional document for the reference of the producers. There is no point in describing the methodology of data collection in minute detail. Too much statistics, figures, tables will also inhibit the flow of the

Simple Style 

As the main purpose of developing the audience profile is help the producer understand the audience, it should be written in a simple, easy to read, lucid manner, consciously avoiding technical jargon. 

Visual Support 

Producers generally do not have the time, energy or desire to read the lengthy written material. It works better, if the written profile is well illustrated and supported by photographs, preferably coloured. Depending upon the resources, it would still be better, if the profile were supported by video. The visuals may be used to supplement the information and enhance understanding, not just for layout or decorative purposes.

The emphasis should be not so much on artistic presentation as on a realistic presentation. The purpose should be to make the information realistic, insightful, revealing, and absorbing to the producer, whether you use written word, photographs, video or a combination of all of them. 

You will have to use various sources for collecting information for the purposes of needs assessment, baseline study and development of audience profiles. Major sources of information are discussed in the next chapter.