Audience

A niche audience:
A niche audience is a certain specific audience, a small audience that would be interested in a certain text.

A mainstream audience:
A mainstream audience is a much wider range audience, certain programmes that a lot people of can either gain information from or get a certain gratification out of.

Examples of niche media texts:

MUTV is a niche media text because even though Football is very very mainstream, this particular channel concentrates on a specific team, meaning only people who support Manchester United will tune in to this channel. It's also niche because it's a channel that costs extra to buy, and not everyone will be willing to spend extra, so only true Manchester United fans will tune into this channel.

Classic Fm is also a niche media text because Classical Music isn't a very popular music genre, mainly the elderly like this type of music, so they're really the only kind of people that will be tuning into this radio station and listening to the music.

Kerrang Magazine is quite a tricky one because it could fall under both a niche media text & a mainstream media text. The reason for this being mainstream is because Rock music is a still a very popular music genre spread across both genders and all ages, however, there are certain people who dislike rock music, so they wont buy this magazine, also, the majority of the elder fans of rock wont buy these magazines because they can't really personally identify with the people in the magazine as they are mostly quite young, this is what makes Kerrang Magazine a niche media text.

Examples of a mainstream media text:

The X Factor is a very mainstream media text as it is shown on ITV 1 at 8pm on a Saturday Night. ITV is a very popular channel so many people will watch, and on a Saturday Night no-one will be at work so the majority of people will be watching TV. On the show are a wide range of contestants, so everyone is able to personally identify with the people on the show. This also gives off a huge amount of entertainment with things like Comedy & Drama. There is also an element of social integration, where people the next day will talk about what happened on the show, and if you didn't see it, you will feel left out. Also, ITV is a free channel to view, so this will attract even more people.

Friends is a mainstream media text because it has numerous amounts of genres involved, like Comedy, Drama, Romance, etc. It is played on E4, quite a popular channel. The characters are both male and female so the audience will be able to personally identify with the characters. There is also once again an element of social integration. E4 is also, once again, a free channel, attracting more people.

Big Brother is a mainstream media text because it is reality TV, so straight away people will be able to personally identify with the people in the show, also, the people picked for the show are very different, black people, gay people, etc, so straight away it will attract a much wider range of audience. Big Brother is shown on Channel 4, which is free, attracting more people. It is shown at around 9pm, 'prime time' as it is known as because it's the time the majority of people will be at home watching TV.