Models of audience segmentation

There has been a proliferation of audience segmentation, allowing different audiences to be targeted more specifically. There are several prominent models which can be used to segment audiences.


Demographic measurements

Socioeconomic scale

Audiences can be categorised by demographic measurements such as their age, gender and socioeconomic status. A strength of this model is that it is driven by hard data which is measurable. A merit of using the socioeconomic scale in particular is that disposable income often directly links to audiences' consumption habits. However, these measurements are too simplistic to judge an individual's tastes and interests - they assume homogeneity.

Tribe/ subculture model

UK Tribes' main categories

UK Tribes (a research project by Channel 4) provides information about a variety of youth subcultures. A strength of this model is that it considers aspects of lifestyle, which creates a more personalised impression of individual consumers. This is especially useful in relation to modern audiences because of the proliferation of lifestyle cultures.

Psychographic model
Young and Rubicam are an advertising agency who created the '4 Cs' model (Cross-Cultural Consumer Characterisation model) which divides audiences into 7 different types: the aspirer, the reformer, the explorer, the succeeder, the resigned, the struggler and the mainstream. A weakness of this model is that these categories are slightly ambiguous; it could be difficult to assign these descriptions to specific audiences, and more than one of these labels would apply to certain audience members.


Habits and lifestyle

YouGov Profiles Lite example profile

YouGov Profiles describes itself as a 'media planning and audience segmentation tool'. It provides demographic information about the average consumers of particular brands and products, including their typical gender, age, social grade, region, political leaning, profession and monthly spare income. The website also shows the audience's favoured entertainment, including their favourite movies, TV shows, music artists and celebrities. A strength of this model is that it combines information about audiences demographics and lifestyles to create a well-rounded profile. However, some of the profiles are based on limited data which means that the information is not very reliable.