Radio 1 Case Study

Explain how and why producers of radio programmes target different audiences. Refer to the Radio 1 Live Lounge to support your answer.

Radio 1's target audience is mainly people age 15-35 year olds, in last 10 years listening figures have dropped because of access to music online and younger people prefer streaming. Live Lounge tries to solve the problem for loss of listeners as it targets younger audiences and can be streamed online. One successful example is Harry Styles' cover of Fleetwood Mac's 'The Chain'. The song in itself also helps to attract older audiences because Fleetwood Mac is an older rock band formed in 1967. 
Harry Styles has a variety of different audiences his music caters for. The first being younger people and family audiences from the UK because of his appearance on The X Factor. These would have been the first people to have listened to his music so its the first members of his 'fan base'. This means that this song instantly targets these members to listen to his Live Lounge cover, which was clever by BBC 1 because these young people are likely to listen to this Live Lounge cover, which in turn increases their listening figures.
The next target audience for Harry Styles is young, British teenage girls because of his membership in One Direction. The X Factor has a mass mainstream audience appeal, so with Harry Styles being well-known for being in One Direction, it brings in another audience to the BBC as these young teenage girls listen to his cover.
Another target audience this Live Lounge cover would have brought in is older males. Fleetwood Mac is a band that was formed in 1967 but still make music today. These people are likely to be part of the older generation and into rock music. Half of the band members in Fleetwood Mac are American, so this cover would have also brung in audiences from America. This is another target audience the BBC have received from this cover because these people are not as likely to listen to BBC Radio 1, however because of their interest in Fleetwood Mac, they are likely to tune into the radio to see how Harry Styles has covered the song.
Fleetwood Mac's 'The Chain' was also featured in Guardians of the Galaxy 2. This cover would have brought in fans of the film who are younger audiences, but also males and females aged over 35 (i.e. parents). This is also a new audience for the BBC as these people may have not listened to BBC Radio 1 before, but because they like the song from the film they are likely to tune in and listen to it.
Therefore, producers of radio programmes may use ideas such as the Live Lounge to help increase their viewing figures and popularity.