Noah's Media Studies Blog: Research: Target Audience

Intro:

I’m back with a new update regarding my sports magazine development log! The focus of this log entry is all about market research because before I can write anything, I need to know who I’m writing towards, and how to motivate these people to care!

I do not want this magazine to be a recap of last night’s games like Twitter does. Instead, I am creating a platform for long-form narrative based sports journalism. To do this, I first had to do my homework and figure out the current sports media landscape.

Below I will explain what types of things I researched, what I found out and how this will affect where this project goes next.

Research/impact:

Part 1: The Search for the Ideal Reader

The Research Process: To identify the demographics and psychographics of potential readers of sports magazines, I first researched all of the data available on the subject. With the intention of moving beyond just a basic idea of what constitutes "a sports fan", but more to find out who really is reading today's in-depth sports publications (magazines).

What I Discovered: The information tells a fascinating story about the readers of the sports publications. The majority of the previous reader base has been and still is mostly male but that is gradually changing; here is a summary of the major points made by my research:

Age-wise, most digital sport consumers are younger (18-34). In contrast, most print versions (Sports Illustrated for example) still have a median age of approximately 54. Most readers also have some degree of education along with a decent income level, which explains the reason they subscribe.

An interesting psychographic data point I've uncovered is that while consumers of long-form content want to hear different opinions about various events, they are first and foremost intellectually curious! They want information that includes a variety of factors as well as detailed accounts of why sports matter past the final score! If a long-form article accurately describes an experience or reality that includes understanding how the human experience affects sporting events, they are more likely to spend time reading it.

While the 'big three' sports still dominate viewership, the demand for niche sports, women's sports, and stories that overlap with lifestyle, culture, and social issues is growing rapidly!

Ultimately, we want our target market to be tech savvy, engaged, and desire an excellent product.

What I learned from this study is very useful information. At first, I thought my audience would be a general who like sports. After looking at this study, I know that will not work. I will now concentrate on only one group of people, and that will be young people who have grown up using the internet (or digital natives). If I am going to make money, I need to provide most of my content online and have multiple options for each piece of content so that the reader will have many ways to interact and engage with me through the written word. Additionally, I must expand my content to cover all aspects of sports (not just games) and include cultural types of stories about sports.

Part 2: Learning from the Giants (The Athletic & SI)

During my research into industry leaders The Athletic and Sports Illustrated, I found that both organizations are using innovative ways to connect their audience. I looked into their business models and content strategies, and how they have adjusted to the digital world.

I learned this about The Athletic's Approach: The Athletic was built on the premise that there are diehard sports fans who will purchase high-quality local reporting, without advertising. They have top notch writers covering each team and offer a very personalized experience to their subscribers. Their focus on deep dives into statistics, along with exclusive access to metrics via player interviews or other means, provides information that appeals to the "curious reader" audience (that I defined). They have also leveraged the power of podcasts and content created by professional athletes to reach their target audience.

With regard to Sports Illustrated's Legacy: Sports Illustrated's brand is built upon decades of amazing sports photographs and long-form literary sports writing. As it's transitioned to a digital publication, Sports Illustrated has faced many challenges; however, its strength lies in its ability to create pictures of historic moments through excellent visual storytelling and authoritative voice.

Analysis: Am I on the Right Track? Studying these two giants confirmed that my instinct for long-form is valid, but it needs a unique hook. The Athletic wins on local depth; SI wins on visual legacy. My magazine needs to find its own lane. Perhaps it's a blend of the two: combining the rigorous, deep-dive reporting style of The Athletic with a strong emphasis on visual aesthetics and narrative photography akin to SI. It also reinforced that a subscription model, or at least a strong membership component, is likely the most viable path for this type of premium content.

Part 3: Writing of Long Form Sport Stories

How I went about researching long-form sports narrative and how to construct a 5,000 word narrative that maintains the reader's interest through to the final word. What I discovered is that an excellent long-form sports narrative is structured just like a novel.

The Structure: Most of the best long-form sports stories are structured in a classic three-act narrative. They do not just dump facts at the reader, but rather take the reader on an emotional rollercoaster throughout the writing.

Character Development: Each of the athletes must be developed into three-dimensional characters, each with motivations, fears and backstories. Therefore, your interviews must focus on creating rapport with each athlete; you must conduct thorough, in-depth interviews designed to go beyond any media-trained cliches.

Scene Setting: Detailed descriptions and sensory experience of the reader will help to transport the reader to the locker room for the day of the game, the sidelines for the game or the place where the athlete grew up.

Research: The act of going to the library in order to research extensive background material necessary for a true "deep dive" into the story; this means going to the archives of newspapers, going through game statistics, and searching through historical documents to put today's story in the context of the past.

When we unearth the backstory, we usually have to dig into the past. Archival research is a critical component of long-form journalism.

Analysis: Did this change my extended direction? For sure! This part of the research had the biggest impact on me. I now see that I cannot simply combine "long writing" together, I have to become a storyteller. This means that my editorial process needs to be altered. I will need to spend a lot of time doing the pre-reporting research before any interviews take place. I will need to look for scenes and characters instead of just quotes and statistical data. The process will be much more time-consuming, but the amount of quality produced will be very high.

Reflection:

Through this research phase, I’ve gained a lot of confidence regarding the magazine's priority. I will not just be slapping content onto walls; I will be creating a product. It has been developed specifically for a unique, intelligent, and enthusiastic user.