Focus Groups > Year 9 Responses

SECTION ONE
What do you think of…?
What are your favourite programmes on…?

BBC One
- BBC’s “high profile” channel
- For ‘older’ audiences
- Like it has no advertisements
- Specialise in Drama and Documentary

BBC Two
- Like it more than BBC One
- Like ‘Thursdays are Funny’ (Comedy Night)
- Like US imports (inc. Heroes)

BBC Three
- “Rubbish”
- Disorganised + inconsistent schedules
- Show up and coming new shows
- (Don’t see the point in its online streaming; bad quality?)

BBC (General)
- Very positive response
- Like it has no advertisements
- Think it values quality over quantity
- Think it produces better versions of ITV concepts

ITV 1
- Like the Friday films
- Like Champions League coverage
- Too much ‘reality TV’ (inc. talent shows)
- Dislike the advertisements

ITV 2
- Watch very little
- Like Coleen’s Real Women

ITV (General)
- “Crap”
- “Bad version of BBC”
- Dislike the advertisements

Channel 4
- Like US sitcoms (e.g. Scrubs, Friends etc.)
- Like UK comedy (e.g. Shameless, general Friday night programming)
- Like ‘Quiz-com’ programmes (e.g. 8 out of 10 Cats, Jimmy Carr fronted shows)

E4
- Love Skins
- Regularly watch Friends, Scrubs etc.
- Think they show the best programmes from Channel 4
- Like ‘Catch Up’ and ‘First Look’ features (useful + allow to keep ahead of friends)
- Watch when home from school

Sky One
- Famous for The Simpsons, Jake 2.0
- Angry it’s no longer on Virgin Media
- Dislike too many advertisements
- Think it’s ‘for rich people’ (a ‘premium’ channel)

UKTV Gold – Advertisements are too long + regular
Dave – ‘Home of Witty Banter’, for Men, Love Top Gear, Whose Line is it Anyway?
Virgin 1 – Too new so doesn’t have good programmes, like Sarah Connor Chronicles + Fresh Prince, Like it but don’t watch often
Living – Famous for Charmed + Next Top Model, rarely watch it
FX – Think it shows the best of US programmes, Generally unaware it existed

Kids TV – don’t mind CBBC (on BBC One, not the channel), prefer to watch ‘adult’ channels
Nickelodeon – Too many Advertisements, rarely watch, dislike
Trouble – Rarely watch, Dislike, Famous for Saved by the Bell + Kyle XY

BBC Radio 1 – ‘upbeat’
BBC Radio 5 Live – Like the sports coverage + ‘606’
Capital 95.8 – Used to be a favourite but has gone bad, no good DJs (miss Tarrant etc.)
Choice FM – Don’t listen to
Heart – Dislike, for ‘old people’
Kiss – for black music
Magic – for ‘old people’
TalkSport – Don’t listen to
The Hits Radio – Unfamiliar with it
Virgin Radio – Favourite, like the DJs, like the indie music
Xfm – Well liked, like idea of no DJs to allow more music, tracks repeated too often



SECTION TWO
Do you know this programme?
What channel is it on?
What do you think of this programme?

Hollyoaks
Channel 4
- Girls seem to like it but boys don’t (or at least don’t admit to watching)
- Boys called it ‘stupid TV’ with bad acting with ‘low mental range’
- Boys and Girls find it good to laugh at and are both easily hooked

Strictly Come Dancing
BBC One
- Bad scheduling, Saturday dinner slot isn’t their ‘prime time’
- They didn’t understand why you would watch bad dancers dance
- Don’t show any auditions – their favourite reality TV stage

Friends
E4, Channel 4
- Love it, can’t fault it

Shipwrecked
Channel 4
- Range from ‘bad’ to ‘alright’
- Nothing happens, it doesn’t interest them

EastEnders
BBC One
- Really disliked, for old people
- Ridiculous, repetitive storylines

Vanity Lair
Channel 4
- Most were unaware of it
- Mixed reaction from those who had – mild entertainment

Sound
- Didn’t know it

The O.C.
Channel 4
- Love it
- Think it’s more for women
- Full of fit people

Them
- Didn’t know it

The X Factor
ITV 1
- Auditions are their favourite
- Final is inflated so its too big a deal
- Easy to lose track
- The girls had voted, the boys haven’t

Falcon Beach
Didn’t know it

Balls of Steel
Channel 4
- For men
- Funny, but too repetitive

Big Brother
Channel 4
- Gone too far?
- Too long
- Thoroughly disliked

America’s Next Top Model
Living
- ‘For girls and gays’
- Too American – good and bad thing
- Good that they show different sized models

Ugly Betty
Channel 4
- Funny
- Well liked

Skins
E4, Channel 4
- Love it
- Too aspirational?
- Just drink, sex and partying



SECTION THREE

What would the perfect TV programme be like?
- Funny, sitcom style
- Starring + aimed at Young Adults
- ‘Stupid’ out of the ordinary storylines, but not surreal
- NOTE: Sounds strikingly similar to Skins…

When do you watch TV?
- Not in the mornings
- ‘Early’ Afterschool (4pm-5pm) – some Kids TV
- Afterschool (5pm-8pm) – channels like E4, Channel 4, BBC

Where do you watch TV?
- Vast majority in the Living Room
- Those with TVs in their bedrooms watch more TV alone in their rooms

How do you watch TV?
Freeview – ALL had Freeview in their homes
Sky – a few, a couple with Sky+
Virgin Media – only two, they described it as ‘crap’ (due to BSkyB dispute)
Online – Used by technically minded (mostly boys), illegal but don’t care, regularly use torrents, Limewire + streaming
BBC iPlayer – Like the that it STREAMS (fast, no waiting), good as a ‘catch-up’ or ‘in-advance’ service
4oD – Don’t like that it requires DOWNLOADS, find that STREAMS don’t work
iPod – A couple have watched a film on their iPod, never used iTunes to buy video (expensive)
Mobile TV – Too expensive (T-Mobile tariff used as example), small screen is a hindrance



SECTION FOUR
What do you know about…?
What programmes do they show?
Do you like it?

T4
- Channel 4, for ‘Teens’
- Good for music, live band performances
- Prefer E4’s content
- Don’t watch regularly, only if they have nothing else to do
- Bad irritating presenters
- Don’t tend to watch their programmes

BBC Switch
- Never heard of it
- Saturday afternoon TV (12pm-onwards): they are out with friends at this time, ‘surely no one would watch?’
- Sunday evening radio (7pm-onwards): they don’t listen to radio for long periods, only whilst doing something else (homework etc.)
- Adults make the decisions, so won’t be what teens really want
- Suspicious the BBC introduced it for a reason, to be ‘seen to’ have teen show?
- Not advertised or promoted at all – they’re completely unaware because they’ve never been informed

INITIAL PROPOSAL > BBC Switch

[ TOPIC AREA 2: CHILDREN & THE MEDIA ]

In the New Media era, broadcasters are growing fearful of losing teenage or 'youth' audiences. For commercial broadcasters, targeting this group should reap rewards later on - 'brand loyalty' suggests today's teens will prove loyal viewers of the future. For PSBs like the BBC, they feel an obligation to provide programming for this audience. Thus, the BBC launced 'BBC Switch' in October 2007 to carter for 12-16 year olds (CBBC had its focus redefined to focus on 7-11s). But should the 12-16 age group have media speicifcally produced for them, or does this age range now fall under the catchment of mainstream 'adult' television. Programmes such as Skins are promoted to a young adult audience (in fact, the average age of a Skins viewer is 35), but are watched by teenagers and young people too. So are the programmes produced under the BBC Switch brand necessary?

BBC Switch covers television, radio and online. An online portal is found at bbc.co.uk/switch, Sunday afternoons on BBC Two are now under the BBC Switch brand (inc. US drama Falcon Beach and flagship music programme Sound) and the whole BBC Radio 1 Sunday evening schedule (inc. the Sunday Surgery and 'Switch with Annie Mac'). Are these services used by young people or are they even aware they exist? And do they fulfil what they want in the new 'non-linear' online world?

This proposal therefore examines whether this age group should be an audience in itself, or whether they are better catered for by exisiting programming on channels like MTV1, E4 or even prime time ITV1 and BBC One.

By examining viewing diaries of 12-16 year old's media consumption, I will be able to ascertain any trends and patterns relating to programmes aimed specifically at their demographic or programmes with wider audience appeal. I could deconstruct BBC Switch programming and compare it to mainstream shows like The X Factor, The OC or Skins. By doing this, I can investigate whether or not the distinct 12-16 year old demographic exists and, if so, what content they really consume and want.

INITIAL PROPOSAL > BBC Radio 1 Community

[ Topic Area 3: Community Radio ]

In this focus, I would like to research how BBC Radio 1 has managed to cultivate a loyal community (or 'fanbase') using New Media and viral techniques.

BBC Radio 1 (R1) has used various methods over the past few years to booster the loyalty amongst its 'Daytime' schedule. They have used an ARG (Alternative Reality Game), social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook and personalisation tools to brand your webpage. The R1 website is interactive from the top down, using chatrooms, message boards, webcams, galleries and displays text messages online as they are sent in to the station. Using events such as the Radio 1 Big Weekend, BBCi interactive steams of high profile gigs and extending its range of audio and video podcasts to 12 in total, R1 has entered the world of New Media and attracted new young audiences.

By extending their reach of services, R1 has seen a rise in their overall audience share, recovering from an all time low in the late 1990s. The Chris Moyles Show (dubbed 'The Saviour of Radio 1') has grown in popularity and is now the second most popular radio programme in the UK. I believe this is the root of R1's newly found success because 'brand loyalty' has produced a fanbase which stays loyal to R1 through The Chris Moyles Show's success and market dominance. This is shown by the unexpected success of The Chris Moyles show fanpage on Facebook - as documented by Paul Smith on the OrganGrinder blog.

There isn't a lot of theory examining nationwide communities as a result of nationwide stations - nor much research on the influence on New Media. Moreover, it's hard to know where to focus. It's a broad idea which touches on the Advertising topic too. Would this be too complicated to negotiate? Although I like this topic area, it would be hard to ground this in sourcable theory.