Madmen - target

Madmen question -

Most media texts target a wide range of audiences, how true is this for your chosen text?

We have chosen to study AMC’s Madmen series 5 episodes 3 titled “The Other Woman”. This show, aired on AMC and Sky Atlantic, targets a smaller niche audience but still attracts a wider niche audience than other Television shows for many reasons. The main target audience are active middle class men because they will be able to relate to scenarios and be able to decode the polysomic meaning of the text. Woman may also be able to gain gratification from the text because they too will gain something from the program

One such reason is the channel and Scheduling of the program. It is aired on both TV channels (AMC in the US and Sky Atlantic in the UK) on a weekly basis at 9/10 at night. These channels are cables channels and this means that there is a fee for watching them; this immediately objects them to a much smaller audience than most TV shows. Statistics from Luke Lewis from the Guardian newspaper shows that Madmen was only getting an average of 250,000 viewers per episode (2010) and this is much lower than standard channels that do not require payment. However, the time of the program would subject them to a slightly wider audience because the target audience would be at home after a day at work and they would be more likely to gain gratification from programs.

The complex representation of females would also attract a slightly wider audience than a simplistic representation because more females will be able to gain models of behaviour from the characters and therefore be gratified by them. The positive representation of the character Peggy would gratify the strong, hardworking women because in the episode “The Other Woman” she looks for a way to improve her career and outgrow the males that are suppressing her, such as the main protagonist Don. She does this by applying for another job at a rival company and using her hard work and determination get the job and better pay. This contrasts to the character of Joan who uses her body as a way to gain influence in Don’s advertising company. These are two very different representation and these will attract more woman to the shows because it is more realistic they may seek models of behaviour of how to gain influence in a company.

The setting of the text may also attract a niche audience because only a certain section of the audience will gain the preferred reading of the text. The text centres around an advertising business in America in the 1950’s and this meant that a very small audience will be attracted to this, such as modern business men who can relate to the different scenarios in the text and the varying character models.