"Viewing" Audiences

I consider myself to be a highly analytical person.  And whenever I hear about a television show getting big, I try to picture the audience watching that particular show.

Take the show True Blood, for example (or just about any other show on HBO).  I have never seen a single episode of True Blood, but I have seen video clips and images.  I have also seen some of the marketing campaigns for that show (and the DVD covers).  After seeing these videos and images, I sort of have a picture of the typical True Blood viewer.  All of the actors and actresses on the show are in their mid 20s to early 40s, and I picture the audience to be in that same age range.

The True Blood viewer probably lives in an apartment or condominium, and is likely female.  She probably listens to Adele and goes to Starbucks every day.  I'm guessing she may read some Nicholas Sparks novels from time to time.  She probably likes to talk about Ryan Gosling or whoever you find in PEOPLE.

It may sound stupid to say you know who the typical True Blood viewer is.  But if you look at how the show is marketed, you can see there are subliminal messages intended for specific demographics.

Just take a look at this picture of the cast:

 

(source: sciencefiction.com)

 



Look at how they are dressed.  Look at their facial expressions.  Look at how they pose.  If you're in your late twenties, you can relate to this depiction.  You can relate to the sexual undertones and the depictions of youth.

 

You cannot create a successful television show if you invent characters out of thin air.  You need to know what people are wearing, what kind of alcohol people are drinking, and what fascinated people.  The most successful television shows are ones with characters that mirror their audiences.  People in their late twenties and early thirties obssess over this show because they can relate to the characters. 

 

In many ways, it is our narcissism that dicates our viewing habits.  We want to be told that we are important.  If we get that message, then we will listen.  People do not watch True Blood because it is about vampires.  People watch True Blood because it's a show about twenty-something and thirty-something yuppies who encounter what we call "first-world problems".  Vampirism is just the hyperbole.  Cosmopolitanism is the main message, and that is why I picture a cosmopolitan audience watching True Blood.  The "vampires" on the show act the way cosmopolitan young adults are supposed to act.