Audience Research: Audience Behaviour

As I am making a documentary with a target audience of a socially-conscious, 16-25, middle to upmarket demographic, there are many things to consider. By definition, social consciousness is having 'awareness of important social issues'. This  relates to the topic of my documentary as it has a huge focus on mental health. I believe that this is an extremely important topic to be discussed, and although awareness is increasing - especially over recent years - I do think that there is a lot more people can learn. My target demographic being socially conscious would view this in the same or a similar way, and would also want to learn more. An example of what there could be to learn is how common mental illness is, and 1 in 4 people experience mental health issues each year - stated by the MHFA England. Another statistic which I find interesting is that 70-75% of people with diagnosable mental illness receive no treatment at all. This fascinates me, as it proves that awareness needs to be encouraged and talking about mental health should start to become a bigger part of peoples lives. I want my documentary to inform people on things like this, and truly how serious it can become. Additionally, a figure here that references the same age range as my target audience is that half of mental ill health starts by age 15 and 75% develops by age 18. This again shows that it is affecting the age group my documentary is being made for, and that should be even more reason for them (and others) to be interested.

A lot of popular documentaries for this age are crime. Most of YouTubes top recommendations or most viewed documentaries are all crime, as a lot of people find these interesting. I think that the reason people find these documentaries interesting is because of how unusual and out of the ordinary the behaviours shown are, and that it is so far from the 'norm' that the vast majority of people can't relate in any way. I think that crime documentaries are extremely interesting too as in a way they provide entertainment by being able to see inside the people that behave so differently to most. However, I am hoping that my documentary is going to be almost opposite in the response, with people being able to relate and become more aware about this important issue. I also think that it is so important as it can affect absolutely anyone, even though it is more common in certain age ranges and genders, it doesnt mean that it doesnt impact people around those brackets. 

The general interests of people in the 16-25 age range would be typically be related around socialising and a lot of people particularly under 18s have interests in physical activity and sport (also relating to my documentary). I think that many people would be highly likely and willing to watch my documentary. Although it might not have the most light-hearted atmosphere when watching it, it should impact people and educate them.