Audiance Demographics and Profile of Doctor Who

Audience Demographic and Profile of Doctor Who.

 

There is a lot of debate on the target audience for Doctor Who. Many people would class it as a family show that family's can all sit down together and watch but then lot's of adult fans would say it's a bit too childish and need's to be made for an older audience whilst parents say that it's too scary for their young kids and need's to be made more child friendly.

 

"It was a regular concern of the programme's previous show runner Russell T Davies that he had to write for two audiences: children (and the half-distracted parents they roped in to watch with them) and the hard-core adult fans, many of whom grew up with the show and kept watching even after they'd acquired jobs and mortgages and the right to decide their own bedtimes. So who should he try to please? It was a tough one, especially as TV reviewers are generally not, as you might imagine, eight-year-olds, but rather the group that likes intricate plot lines and emotional character arcs more than flatulent aliens."

This is an article written by an adult fan of Doctor Who. This segment of the article outlines the two separate target audiences. The children, and the adults. It brings to light how difficult it must be for the producers of the show to make sure they try to please both audiences.

When the shows old writer Rustle T Davis was still writing for Doctor Who, he tried to keep the show to a child friendly level and then occasionally throw in a scarier, darker episode to please the older audiences (theses were often written by Stephen Moffat).

 

Then there is that fact that it is almost written for two audiences, is this what makes people see it as a family show? I believe that when an adult watches Doctor Who with their family, it's not because Doctor Who has "drawn them in" or appeals to them massively, I think it's that Doctor Who is watched by the adults who used to watch it as kids and they are the ones who are watching it now and therefore making it okay for other adults to begin to watch it.

"Personally I believe the main target audience for Dr Who is a child - male, possibly between the ages of 7-13, but I also believe that Dr Who has other audiences who are much older or maybe that is because Dr Who has been around for a while and fans of Dr Who are loyal and those who have been fans since the beginning continue to watch Dr Who"
 
This is another quote written by an adult and posted onto a forum. It shows clearly what adults think about the topic of who is or should be the target audience of Doctor Who.
 

 

This is a forum post where people are discussing the target age for Doctor Who. In most of the posts people state the age and gender. This and the things they are saying can help give us an idea of who the target audience is from the publics point of view. However there are certain audiences that are more likely to go on public forums to debate this kind of thing. For example there are a few mothers on this forum post and not many men, this does not mean that more mothers and less men watch Doctor Who it simply means that men may not go on forums as much. 

 

Gender

So from all the research I have collected I have come to the conclusion that the official target audience's gender that the producers of Doctor Who have in mind is male. Information from Thinkbox.tv shows that girls do watch more TV but boys under 12 enjoy cartoons more and traits from most cartoons (adventure, comedy) are found within Doctor Who as well. Other things that would attract males to Doctor Who rather than females include the amount of violence, the fact that the main character is male and (as I mentioned before) the action/ adventure theme, which stereotypically, boy's enjoy more than girls.  Also females prefer the more social drama's rather then the action drama's.

 

Age
I also now think that the target age group for Doctor Who is around 8-14. As stated in my research above, I think the show is written for the 8-14 age group but there are some little things, that may not mean anything to the specific age group, that are thrown in for the older generation who watch Doctor Who. This is how I believe the BBC manage to have such a wide range of people that watch it: There is something for everyone. Even though the main themes and
storylines are based on what an 8-14 would enjoy. For example, some aspects of this TV show that would appeal to the 8-14 year old age range could be the action/ adventure theme. The fact that it's not very realistic could be something that would deter an adult from watching it, but the fantasy or action/ adventure would draw an 8-14 year old in. Some of the few things that are thrown in there for the older audience (as I mentioned before) could include; references to the older episodes that the older generation would understand, small and occasional references to sex and the psychological effects that some episodes have. For example the episode "Blink" plays with your mind quite a lot and really makes you think about what's going on rather then throwing the violence in your face.

Lifestyle and Spending Power
I haven't really discussed this category much in my research above but I think that the lifestyle of people who watch Doctor Who is quite interesting because of the fact that I don't think that it's really aimed at a particular group of people with once certain lifestyle. This might be because of the age range. Boy's aged 8-14 don't tend to have what TV shows they watch affected by whether they are single or not. Also they are not going to be married and they are not going to have an income of their own. On the topic of income, I don't think that their parents income would effect whether they watch Doctor Who either. This is because Doctor Who is on BBC which is a free channel that you don't have to pay to watch, so if you have a TV and a TV licence then you can watch Doctor Who for free. However I think income defiantly effects how "into" Doctor Who the target age range is. If an 8-14 year old boy watches Doctor Who and really likes it then they are going to want to start buying merchandise and other products that relate to Doctor Who like action figures and the Doctor Who magazine. If the family is on a low income then it is a lot less likely that the child will be able to buy, or have his parents buy, these things. This could lead to him eventually loosing interest.

Then there is the older target group that I have previously mentioned. The adult age group that aren't a target audience for the show, but the show's producers are aware of this audience and do occasionally throw in a little reference to keep them happy. I think that typically if you think of an adult that watches Doctor Who you think of a single, middle aged man. I don't think this is an accurate idea of the kind of adult that watches Doctor Who. I think adult's that watch Doctor Who tend to be adults who have children in the target audience. As mentioned in my initial research, a lot of people see Doctor Who as a family show which backs up this point. Of course you could argue that parents of this age range are likely to have younger kids too and that might cause them to not have the time or energy to watch the show but the fact that Doctor Who is on after 7pm on a Saturday could suggest that it is placed at this time in the hope that the really young children would now be in bed and the rest of the family can sit down an watch it together. This could be another reference to the fact that the show isn't just for children. Also families with children are less likely to have lot's of disposable income because of the amount of people in their family (compared to a family where two adults work but don't have any children to pay for). Having less disposable income could be linked to them watching Doctor Who because the BBC is a free channel and if they had more money then the chances are they might pay to subscribe to another channel that is more appealing and watch that but since they don't have that money, they watch free shows like Doctor Who.

So as I discussed in my initial research I still think that the show is officially aimed at young children (8-14) but it has also been made available to be watched by families.

Analysis/ Meaning - Doctor Who Clip

Analysing the Meaning of a Doctor Who Clip

This clip starts of on an Extra Long Shot from a birds eye view. It then tilts downwards as it zooms in on the main character's and the Tardis. It then continues to zoom into Rose and The Doctor until it's just the two of them in a medium shot. This single shot is very important and meaningful even if it may not seam it at first. 

The fact that the very first bit is from an extra long shot emphasises the social side of the scene. There are 4 people in the shot but then the fact that it then ends up being just Rose and the Doctor in the shot implies that really this scene is about them and even though there are other people there, they are the focus. This is confirmed when during the next section of the scene Rose and the Doctor having a conversation and to show that the conversation is just between them, the shots jump between close up's of Rose and The Doctor individually. 

Once this has gone on for a bit Mickey, one of the other characters in the scene says something. The camera then goes to a close up of him whilst he is taking. The fact that the other two characters do have speaking parts in the scene even though it's really a scene between Rose and The Doctor is probably the reason behind the Extra long, birds eye shot at the beginning of the scene.

Once the shot goes back to Rose and The Doctor they are no longer in individual close up's, they are both together in a medium shot. This emphasises that it's always going to be Rose and The Doctor (which is what the dialogue is talking about in the scene). Jackie and Micky. the other two in the scene are never shown in a shot together like Rose and The Doctor other then shots where all the characters are in it. 

After the characters have established (through dialogue) that Rose is going to stay with the Doctor, there are only shots of Rose and the Doctor in the scene. Even on some Long shots, they have made a point of making sure that Jackie and Mickey are just out of view. This could be to represent that Rose has made her decision and she has chosen to be with the Doctor. You don't see the other characters again until the end when the shot zooms out from a close up of Rose and The Doctor, to an extra long shot of all the characters again. This is where the scene ends.