UNDERSTANDING THE AUDIENCE TASK III - TMZ

TMZ is notoriously known for always being the first to report on Hollywood gossip. In this case, the article published regarding the two year old caught the attention of TMZ after a video was published on TikTok and instagram, both very influential and popular mediums in society at the moment.

The article itself is well written, easily comprehensible and whilst mentioning all the relevant details, is not too complicated. TMZ’s greatest asset, in this regard, has undoubtedly been the numerous updates and follow-ups. In addition to that I believe that it was crucial that they added the time and dates of the updates. This was extremely important because of the nature of the subject, i.e Covid-19, since very unpredictable measures can change from time to time.

When taking into account the audience perspective which is without a doubt active, all these factors; updates with a clear time frame; using different sources and mentioning both sides of the story, lets the audience know that the author, in this case TMZ, is reliable, hence making the audience read more of TMZ’s work in the future.

After being unsatisfied by their analytics in 2016, they decided to launch an SMS campaign in order to boost popularity and reach to both their TV channel and website. This was done by creating a competition on TMZ’s television show ‘Million Dollar May Sweepstakes’, in which viewers had to send a message to a number inorder to be a contestant in the competition. With a staggering 27,000 messages a day and a total of 300,000 participants total.

Because of this marketing technique, TMZ viewers now range more than just teenagers or women searching for gossip. Given that they were very eager to win $10,000 and a trip and accommodation it means that the viewers in question want extra money and a free trip to escape from daily life. This indicates that according to the VALS framework the majority of the viewers should be categorised as survivor; brand loyalists, use coups and watch for sales and trust advertising of any sort. They also watch TV often, and have a fascination for tabloids and women’s magazines.

When analysing this information one cannot not come to the conclusion that most viewers are females, mostly over the age of 18 - mid 30s. Since they are watching TV religiously everyday they might be unemployed and/or house wives or have a part-time job. This means that the average income of the household comes mostly from one person only.

Nonetheless, since TMZ is known for exposing celebrity gossip and lots of secrets, celebrities tend to keep an eye on the site themselves. For instance, when taking the Kardashians as an example, in an episode where they were discussing Kylie Jenners’ hidden pregnancy, Kim Kardashian had seen a photo of Kylie on TMZ that looked as if Kylie was not pregnant. The celebrities are a small portion of the viewers of the site.

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Reference:

LabsMobile,2017. Gossip Website TMZ receives over 300,000 messages using SMS campaign. [online] Available at: <https://www.labsmobile.com/en/blog/gossip-website-tmz-receives-over-300000-messages-using-sms-campaign/> [Accessed 2 January 2021].