Socio- Economic Groupings

Class Structure assists programme makers/ schedulers relating to target audience-

A-     Upper Middle Class	Higher management, Principals, Doctors
B-      Middle Class	Middle management, Professionals
C1- Lower Middle Class	Supervisors, Teachers
C2- Skilled Working Class	Electricians, Plumbers
D-Working Class	Semi- Unskilled,  Manual workers
E- Lowest Level Of                Subsistence	Casual workers, State pension

This table of the demographic structure shows the "classification and measurement of people in different social grades and income". This table is created by the NRS (national readership survey) who analyse and provide estimates of the type of people who read the different types of magazines and Newspapers in Britain. Statistics have shown that in recent years the amount of people in the A-C categories has risen, this may be because of the economic conditions or a raise in educational opportunities.


Even though this table is still used it is a bit dated which is why new groupings have been created-

Elite- Top 6% of the British society, they will earn large salaries and have high savings. E.g. CEO's Dentists, Sales Directors

Established Middle Class-  25% Of society, they are on a high wage. They move in high circles of business. E.g. Police officers, Electrical engineers.

Technical Middle Class- 6% of society, High amount of money. E.g. Air craft pilot, pharmacist

New Affluent Workers- 15% of society. Nice amount of money. E.g. Retail assistant, electricians.

Traditional Working Class-  14% of society. High mortgage with not much savings. E.g. Van drivers, care workers

Emergent Service Sector- 19% of society. They probably rent a house with very little savings. E.g.Bar staff, Chefs.

Precriat- 15% of society. Vey low savings. Low scores on most things. E.g. Cleaners, Labourers.


According to this I would be classed as a New Affluent Worker because I work as a sales assistant at a garden centre. I find this a bit strange considering I would already be classed higher than a chef. Also because I am planning to change my job to potentially bar staff this means that I would decrease in class even though I'm the same person.


How it Affects the Media

TV
These grouping are very useful for programme producers because they know what sort of audience they are aiming for. The amount of people that view a show is discovered by BARB. A panel of people of different class, age, sex, religion etc. are used to determine what kind of people watch different shows. They are split to represent the population of the UK, for example if the UK is 60% females the panel would have 60% females also.
So in order find out who watches what, the panel are asked what they watch.
For a long time Snooker has been considered a male dominated sport but due to the market research carried out this same way, it has been discovered that 60% of the viewers are actually women. This means that the producers may change the way that the sport is shown, perhaps by interviewing or getting close ups of the younger, more attractive players. They can also introduce female presenters and commentators.
Lets say the producers of a  programme like Outnumbered find out that 60% of their viewers are in the C1 group, they would have to work around their viewers wants and needs. Be this from the timing that the show is broadcast, to the types of humour and topics they produce.
Taking this into consideration I would aim the show at around seven o'clock because they would be home from work and possibly already had their dinner so wanting to relax in front of the TV.


Magazines and Papers
Different magazines and papers are aimed at different groups. Broadsheets such as The Daily Telegraph and Financial Times is aimed at people in the A-B group, this is because it is full of news about business and stocks. This is the stuff that they may be interested in since they may own shares of companies so they want to find out whether they are doing well or not. The types of magazines that these people would read are Hello! because the type of celebrities that they cover are within high circles, such as Kate Middleton.
The type of magazines that C1-D groups would be OK! magazine because it covers less high up celebrities like the cast of TOWIE. This is because these are the type of people watch their show and look up to them, which means that they would want to know what they are doing, even outside their show.
The type of papers that would be aimed at the E group, Builders etc, would be The Sun. This is because the stories that they cover are usually not necessarily important, something to quickly read while on the way to work. The Sun is filled with sports news, mostly football results. Also on page three there is usually a topless woman to please the men.


Advertising
During the break of a TV show the adverts will also be aimed at the intended audience, such as, down the lower end of the table, adverts for cheap supermarkets such as Asda (promoting a deal) will appear a lot more than on shows that are aimed at people with more money. This is because that the schedulers know that their audience will be looking to save money when they can.
In contrast adverts during a high end TV show would be for more expensive products like cars and more expensive supermarkets such as Waitrose.
The type of adverts that you would see in papers like The Sun are free coupons to get money off at super markets and free tickets to go to amusement parks. This is because they know that the people that they are aiming for do not have a lot of money so they offer them freebies.
The type of adverts that you would see in papers higher up the table would be for banks and websites to help starting your own business. This is because they know that their readers would have a lot of money so they like to provide adverts to help them deal with their money or expand it.