Questions

How does this product and its marketing appeal to its target audiences? (12)

1) Late Night Women's Hour is a highly fashionable and modern radio show, which targets a young, female, British audience with strong feminist ideological perspectives. Subverting the traditional values of the original BBC Radio 4's 'Women's Hour', Late Night Women's Hour targets a modern audience with engaging conversational topics, regarding relevant themes which are specific to the female gender. This links into the BBC's aims of promoting pluralism, as Late Nights Women's Hour contributes to the active representation of women within media, winning over a feminist audience.

Late Night Women's Hour is clearly targeted towards a middle-class, feminist audience, which is anchored through the sophisticated lexis used by the presenters. There are consistent references to concepts such as '1st wave' and '2nd wave' feminism, which primarily is used to target a feminist audience who would be interested in these movements. This would keep listeners engaged, and therefore generate profit - which is the main purpose of a media product, as listeners would return to the next episode. Yet these references could also be polysemic in purpose, as some critics may believe this is included within the dialogue to target a specific audience, as the producer presumes the listeners will understand the concepts being discussed, evaluating their target audience to be highly educated. To become highly educated, it is presumed you would have attended a private school or university, which are both a financial privilege to attend. Therefore the show is targeted towards a middle-class audience, who are highly educated and feminist. 

This appeal to a middle-class audience is further anchored through the distribution techniques of the show. Late Night Women's Hour is broadcasted once per month at eleven pm, meaning it is highly unlikely for someone to stay up for the sole purpose of listening to it. Instead, the BBC and the producers of the show presume the average listener will tune in via BBC sounds, which can only be accessed online through a digital device. This distribution technique presumes the average listener will have access to their own personal digital device, evaluating their target audience to be financially privileged and wealthier than the working class. This is further highlighted through the conversational topic of houses, where one of the presenters discusses how 'nearly more than half my stuff is in a storage unit in south London,' implying that she lives in London, which is known as one of the most expensive places to live in the UK. The casual discussion of this topic evaluates living in London as being a regular ordeal, presuming the target audience can relate to this luxury, therefore targeting a middle class audience.

Through the fandom and digital convergence, social media users freely discuss the topics spoken about on the show, through all different sites such as Instagram, Twitter and FaceBook, indirectly promoting the show and giving the BBC free marketing. This is important, as the BBC are funded by the public, and do not have access to commercial funding, meaning their stream of revenue is reduced. Recently on Twitter, the official BBC Radio account published a video from Women's Hour titled, 'How many female imams are there in the UK?' which sparked debate and conversation, confining to the BBC's remit to 'inform, educate and entertain'. Despite this video being highly controversial and being labelled as insensitive by some users, it did gain over one million views, promoting the show. Even though this promotion may be perceived as negative, the BBC included the Women's Hour link to their radio stream in the tweet, meaning users (whether in opposition or agreement to the conversation) could easily access the show and listen themselves. Although this was for Women's Hour opposed to the spin-off, those who listened to the radio show may feel inclined to check out Late Night Women's Hour if they enjoyed what they heard, or if they wanted more to discuss and rip apart online. This use of marketing targets a younger audience who are familiar with the concept of a fandom, online discussion and debate.

Overall, the BBC uses digital convergence, fandom and social media to market their show towards a younger audience who are familiar with online discussion and the internet. This audience is presumed to be middle class through the complex lexis employed by the presenters, and the conversational topics which disregard a sense of financial struggle. Late Night Women's Hour is targeted towards a feminist audience, linking into the BBC's aim to achieve pluralism, meaning those who are of a feminist ideological perspective will enjoy the show and the active representation of women.

How has digital convergence affected how the media product is distributed, produced and its circulation? (12)

2) Digital convergence refers to the coming together of two previously separate technology-based platforms. Whilst this does mean that circulation and distribution of Late Night Women's Hour is easier, as online internet users can indirectly market and promote the product by engaging in online conversation, it does mean that the production process has evolved. By reaching a wider demographic and audience, the topical conversations have to be tailored to be politically correct in order to avoid criticism and backlash. Although this may be perceived as responsible by some, this can also limit the voices and opinions of the presenters.

The media industry as a whole is dominated by male producers, meaning the representation of a patriarchally dominated society is favoured by those in control. Whilst Late Night Women's Hour does not seem to confine to this on a surface level, through the pluralistic promotion of topics such as feminism, there are segments of dialogue where there are subtle references to patriarchal societal expectations. For example, within the second episode a female presenter speaks of how there are only 'five to ten minutes women have to themselves all day'. Whilst the preferred reading of this lexis may be that women are powerful, as they are consistently busy, a negotiated reading may be that these women are treated as the inferior gender, as unlike men, they do not have time to relax. This reading is further anchored by the noun 'women', which links this back to the idea of gender constructing your identity, and by the listing of activities which take up their time, such as 'looking after the children'. This conforms to stereotypical, societal expectations of women which would be favoured by someone with a dominant, patriarchal ideological perspective. The BBC are financially supported by the public via a tv licence, meaning they hold a responsibility to reflect the stories of all people, from all walks of life. This obligation, combined with digital convergence, manipulates the production of their radio shows. They still hold a responsibility to represent a male ideological perspective, stereotypes and society, and when this is being distributed to a mass audience through digital convergence, it needs to provide entertainment whilst also limiting backlash. By providing two perspectives to tailor to both ideological perspectives, the BBC changes their production to tailor to the mass audience of multiple digital technologies, as convergence has created a large demographic with differing preferences.

Although the BBC does not prioritise commercial profit, and does not showcase advertising on their platforms, they do market their own products through digital technologies. Platforms such as Twitter allow for listeners of Late Night Women's Hour to discuss the show openly, re-tweeting different viewers opinions and providing commentary, establishing a sense of fandom. This indirectly acts as marketing for the radio show, as followers of those tweeting their opinions may feel inclined to check out the show, to remain updated on the conversational topics, increasing it's circulation on the internet. They similarly use their instagram page which has over 100,000 followers to promote their content for free, which is beneficial as they do not operate through commercially generated profit, meaning they have to be more innovative with their use of money to promote the show. This use of marketing through digital convergence and fandom, makes the circulation of Late Night Women's Hour easier for the marketing team, as digital technologies mean the listeners circulate the show themselves for free.

Late Night Women's Hour is broadcasted on the radio once per month at eleven pm, which is an awkward time for majority of people. In particular, for their target audience of middle-class women with children, this may be a challenging time to listen to the show as they could be preoccupied with other activities. This method of distribution helps the show to target a niche audience, yet is unsuccessful in distributing the radio show to those who would otherwise listen, but simply do not have the time. The BBC use their website BBC sounds to distribute Late Night Women's hour to these individuals, making distribution a lot easier and much more accessible, as fans can access the show at anytime, online for free.

Overall, digital convergence has significantly impacted the production, circulation and distribution of Late Night Women's Hour. Whilst digital convergence has increased the circulation of the show through the use of fandom and online discussion, as the audience have become less passive and more like producers, it has also limited the creative freedom of the production process. The BBC aspires to be pluralistic, yet when trying to appeal to a mass audience digitally, the voice of one individual is seemingly compromised at times to make way for another. These opinions are distributed using the internet and their BBC sounds website, opposed to the traditional radio-only route, making it easier for fans all over the world to tune in.