Research and Planning: E4 and the Brief

E4 is a British digital television channel and is paired with Channel 4.  Channel 4 is a publicly owned corporation appointed by OFCOM which is where E4 comes from.  E4 has existed since the 16th of December 2004 and about a year later in August 2005 E4 Music was introduced.  Programmes that are regularly shown on E4 are Rude Tube, Bad Robots, Made in Chelsea LA and Young Free and Single.  The primary target audience for E4 would be between the ages of 16-24 and can be male or female depending on the show.  Here is an image that shows the genders and age rating of people that watch E4:

This target audience is more likely to be of the "Aspirer" or "Explorer" psychographics as the target audience would arguably want to "aspire" to be like the people in the programmes and be able to relate to them.  A secondary target audience can b men and women in the older age categories as it has shows such as This is England 90 which can remind them of what life was like for them, or Downton Abbey which is more sophisticated than some of the other programmes.

An ESting is a short 10 second clip to promote the channel of E4 to its target audience.  It is normally in the form of a cartoon and always has to include the E4 logo nonetheless.  Here are three EStings as an example:

This is aimed at teenagers who can relate to wanting "private time" watching the telly.  It is a cartoon with a variety of characters with really expressive faces making constant noise.  It ends with the E4 sign squashing the rest of the family to stop the noise showing to teenagers that E4 is the channel to that is on your side.

Again this ESting is aimed at teenagers aged 15-19.  It is repetitive which makes it easy for the music and animation to become stuck in your head.  This will cause for people to remember and talk about the advert so that other people will see it and then making them want to watch E4.  The clay animation is simple and doesn't involve much movement.  I like how the creator has adapted the music to make it sound like the character is singing.

The aim of this ESting is to make their logo stick in people's minds.  The movements of the logos on the screen is mimicking the way a computer would crash and the game Solitaire.  This is probably aimed at people between the age of 13 - 30 because of the classic game Solitaire.  Personally I like the way that the E4 logos move because they seem to have some sort of formation.






















Sources:

http://www.channel4.com/4viewers/faq/name/who-owns-channel-4/id/400286842
http://www.channel4.com/e4
http://www.slideshare.net/08ahmeda/e4-demographic
https://phoebeseston.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/secondary-research-e4-ident/