Soap Opera Trailer Target Audiences

Who would watch the soap trailers at the times you have witnessed them on television?

At the time soap operas are on, many people will be either eating dinner or sitting down for the evening after a busy day. Soap operas are aimed at young adults - adults, therefore parents, business men/women or young teens. This is because typically, the soaps are aimed at these age groups rather that children. They are shown on the televison at this time because of the huge audiences. Soap opera trailers are normally on from 6pm onwards. This again, is because of the sort of audience that is going to be watching television at this time. Parents would be just sitting down after putting their kids to bed, and people that work all day or are at school/college might be home and ready to eat dinner. Therefore, there is a massive audience for soap trailers because they are always inbetween either well rated programmes or the soaps themeselves. This means that a huge audience would be watching, therefore making it guaranteed that people will see the soap opera trailer.

Who are the soap trailers target audience?

The soap trailers target audience are young adult+ because of the time of day that soaps are on, and the stroylines shown in the trailers for soaps. Also, they would be targeted at the people who watch soaps therefore showing the trailers either inbeetween the soap itself, or having it after a highly rated televison programme. The trailers would need to draw the target audience in therefore they would need to understand what the trailer is about. For example; if something big is happening in one of the soap operas like 'Peggy and Archies Wedding', a trailer would be made to tell the audience what is going to be happening. Trailers arent very long therefore there isnt any time for any explanation, so the trailers would be targeted are people that always watch the soaps so that they know who the characters are, and what is going to be happening in the storyline.

What programmes are the trailers shown inbetween or before/after?

Usually if it was a soap trailer, it would only be on the channel that that soap is appearing on. For example; you wouldnt find and Eastenders trailer appearing on ITV1.

Normally, the soap trailers begin when the audience are at its best so from about 6pm. They would then be shown two or three times in a night, either inbetween the soap opera or a programme, or before or after in the advert break. If it is a big storyline, sometimes the trailers could be shown three or four times. The usual programmes are the soaps because thats when you have the biggest audience. You wouldn't see an advert for a soap appear on the break of a children programme because it would only have a selected audience that would see it, and obviously the trailer wouldnt specifically be aimed at children.

Would the timing and programmes that they are shown in effect their target audience?

Normally, the trailers are ahown when all of the soaps are on, therefore they wouldnt effect their target audience because most people would be watching the tele then. It would only effect its target audience if a trailer for a soap was shown early in the morning or in the afternoon because people that watch soaps, may not be at home so thats why they show them early evening, because they are more likely to have a bigger audience.

Soap Opera Research

ANIMAL ANTICS - SOAP OPERA RESEARCH

For our research we had to film a short clip expressing everything that we found out about soap operas. My group decided to make it fun, rather than just a boring film with people talking. Therefore, I filmed all my animals in different situations and then with the help of my group we put it together using a voice over, and some lines from famous soaps such as; Eastenders, Coronation Street and Hollyoaks. I contributed by actually filming the animals, and then researching on the internet to find the different voiceovers, from the popular soaps.

Analysis Of Soap Opera Episode

Analysis of Soap Opera Episode Handout

History Of Soap

"'Soap Opera' first came onto the scene in the 1930's from the USA. It was used to describe radio series that were sponsered by the massive company at the time that sold soap powder, hense 'soap'. The 'opera' part came from the genres and themes of the dilemas and melodramatic situations in the opera itself. In the 1950's, these radio series made it to television therefore grew and grew to world wide popularity.

'Corination Street' is the longest running television soap in all the world, but it is prefated by a radio soap called 'The Archers'. After glossier productions such as 'Dallas' in America, soap suddenly become more and more popular again in the 1980's. This then caused the the likes of 'Brookside' and the success of Australian soaps like ' Neighbours' and 'Home and Away'. The Aussie soaps were aimed at teenagers and young adults, because of the suitable plots and storylines. After the success of the Australlian soaps, British producers decided to follow the theme of 'teen/young adult' audience therefore 'Hollyoaks' became more and more popular over time.

In 2009, Soaps are at a high and are more popular than ever!"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1087193

I found this information on the website listed above, however have re-written it to suit how I would interpurate it. From this information however, I have listed the main points that I think are the most important about the history of soap.

• 'Soap Opera' first began in the 1930's and origonated from the United States of America, and started off as a small radio series.
• Soap' became the name described to call these serial dramas because at the time, the target audience was women, therefore a big name soap company sponsored the radio series. ('Opera' then came at a later date when critics decided that the series revolved around things that happen on a day-to-day basis. i.e relationships, divorce, fraud).
• In the 1950's the radio series made it onto television, and from that point, 'Soap Opera' popularity grew and grew.
• Corination Street is the longest running soap ever, which deals with real life situations.
• After Australia git the big time with soaps such as Neighbours, British producers decided to target soaps at teen/young adults, so soaps like Hollyoakes and Biker Grove became more and more popular.
• In 2009, soaps are the most watched, and most popular thing on television.

Coronation Street is the longest running soap, reaching their 50th anniversary this year. Here, I have found the first ever closing titles of the soap that were produced in 1960, to the present closing titles made in 2011. I have chosen to add these too this piece of work because I think it shows the History of Coronation Street and how the production and equipment have changed in time. As Coronation Street is the longest running soap, I thought the change between 1960 and 2011 would be seen more dramatically. This is the link for the 1960 Closing Titles and the 2011 Titles.

Conventions Of A Soap Opera

A British soap opera always features the following conventions:

• the storylines are continuous throughout the year such as family issues, relationship issues and other day-to-day things that happen. Below is a picture of the Barlow Family, who are always shown having a difficult family life.

• A soap always has a well known theme tune, that sticks with the programme and is played at the start and the end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZYa_KfLTtM: this is a link to YouTube where an example of the Eastenders theme tune is played.
  


• soap operas have many characters, however they use only a few over a period of time. Below is a picture of he Corination Street cast in 2009. Not all of them are used on every episode, however they are all used over the year.

• the soaps are always set around the same place. For example, Emmerdale is always set around the Village.

• British soaps feature normal working class people, with ordinary lives. Whereas in America, they feature rich and more fantasy inspired people. Below is an example of a family from Hollyoakes compared with a few of the cast from the American soap 90210.

• every soap has a christmas or holiday special episode where something tragic always happens. Below is a picture from the Corination Street Christmas episode in 2010 when the tram crashed down through the viaduct. This storyline followed on for about a month after the first episode.

Mind Maps - Soap Operas

Here I have made two mind maps to show all that I know about soap operas. The first mind map shows all the specific things I know about soaps;

• Target Audience
• Typical Settings
• Typical Characters
• Typical Places Found In A Soap

The next mind map I created was about just specific soaps, and I wrote down everything I knew about them. This has helped me realise the conventions of a soap opera and how they are all similer. It also helped me with my 'Conventions of a soap opera' work that is also on my blog.