Tarketing Markets

Targeting Markets

Next time you’re watching TV, pay close
attention to the commercials. If you’re
watching a football game, chances are
you’ll see commercials for beer, cars, and snack
foods—the sort of products that appeal to sports
fans. If you switch over to the Lifetime Channel,
you’re more likely to see sappy spots for long-distance
companies, packaged foods that appeal to
moms, and assorted items geared to affluent
women. On Cartoon Network, you’ll find plugs for
animated movies, video games, and other things
that appeal to young males.

The fact that commercials tend to reflect the
programming they appear during is no accident.
Advertisers design commercials to appeal to particular
audiences, then place them on the TV programs
that that audience is most likely to watch.
Television producers know this, of course. So programs
and networks are created with an audience in
mind—an audience that will be lucrative for a particular
set of advertisers.
Sometimes the audience is a “mass” or general
audience. Network television focuses on such large
audiences, with shows like Seinfeld, Law & Order,
and 60 Minutes. The advantage of mass marketing
lies in economies of scale. The larger the audience,
the less an advertiser pays for each individual
ad impression.
With niche or target marketing, on the
other hand, the audiences are comparatively smaller.
Specialized cable television networks and consumer
magazines are examples of niche-oriented media.
Nickelodeon, for example, targets relatively upscale
children; MTV targets teens and young adults. For
niche marketers, the quality of the audience is more
important than the quantity. A company selling soccer
balls, for instance, would rather reach an audience
of 5,000 soccer players than a general audience
of 30,000. (Soccer players, in this case, constitute
“high quality” since they are the most likely to
buy.) A company that sells hemp sweatshirts will
want to advertise in a targeted medium like High
Times. Luxury car sellers advertise in The New
Yorker and The New York Times Magazine, periodicals
that target an affluent, educated audience.
Though mass audiences dominated media in
the past, companies are increasingly targeting smaller,
more specific audiences. This is due to three
main factors:
1. Computer databases and other technological
advances have made targeting easier.
2. The proliferation of media outlets. Up until
the 1980s, viewers had only three national TV networks
to choose from. At any given time, most
households watching TV were watching one of
three channels. The rise of cable television fragmented
the television audience so that everyone
wasn’t watching the same thing anymore. The rise
of the internet and the proliferation of magazine
titles and other new media also contributed to
breaking up mass audiences.
3. Targeted ads are more effective. The amount
of advertising continually increases and this “clutter”
means that that few people respond to mass marketed
messages. Ads targeted to a consumer’s
personal interests are more likely to be noticed.

TARGET MARKETING ASSIGNMENT

Come up with an idea for a new magazine that targets an untapped,

niche market. What would appear on the cover? What features would

appeal to this demographic group while also appealing to companies

that might advertise? Design a cover page for a sample issue, listing

examples of key stories, promotions, and other items that might draw

readers in. A simple drawing is all you need to illustrate the magazine

covers or advertisements. You can either sketch it out by hand or put

something together on the computer—whatever you prefer. 

Due April 30