BARB comparison

BARB comparison figures- Friends


This screen shot is of viewing ratings for Friends on the channel Comedy Central week ending 16th February 2014. From the data I can see that Friends is the fourth most viewed program on the list with 135,000 viewers. This is quite high rating as its on a Sunday night, at 17:30. 17:30 not being peak time. As well as this, Friends is 20 years old, so a program that is quite old is still getting quite a big audience on a satellite TV channel. This proves that Friends still has a large population of viewers in the UK. In addition, Friends is also in this  top ten for this specific week, four other times. Figures ranging from 107,000-123,000. This is very significant as this also proves just how popular Friends is nowadays.






This screen shot is of the viewing ratings for Friends on channel E4 weekending 7th December 2003. From the data I can see that Friends is the most popular show on E4 as it fills the top 10. Every single place is taken by Friends. This is showing that this was the most popular show on E4 that specific week. This could be down to Friends having just been released in the UK at this point, which supports the viewing ratings. The most watched show was 0.34 million, which is hugely popular at this point.

 

 
After looking at both pieces of data, the data from 2003 is significantly higher than the data from this year. This is because Friends is aired on smaller TV channel, Comedy Central, which is considered a smaller channel as its on satellite television. Compared to E4 in 2003, viewing figures are immensely higher because E4 is considered a bigger channel than Comedy Central as it pulls in more viewers because its on terrestrial television. Another reason for the high viewing figures in 2003, is because Friends just began in the UK.

Distribution and Advertising of Friends- P4/P5

Distribution and Advertising of Friends


Impact

The impact of each character has on the audience is huge, even though they all play stereotyped characters, the impact they have on the audience is aspirational. The audience is inspired by the characters as they have a 'perfect' life and want to be more like them and have their lifestyle. So by watching Friends, the audience gets to escape into the show and dream of a life like theirs. 



Advertising

Nowadays, Friends isn't advertised as most products are. Because people know about Friends and have heard about it, there's no need to advertise it like you would a new programme, as the legacy of Friends has been carried on for years and years. Friends is advertised nowadays by having themed nights on distribution channels such as Comedy Central. These themed Nights include 'Top 10 Ross moments" or "Top 10 Friends episodes you hate to forget" The themed nights allow them to play all the episodes that fit in that category. This enables the distribution company and the Friends makers to make as much money as possible out of a product that is generally quite old. Running up to the season finale Friends, NBC charged up to $2 million per 30 second advertisement of Friends, due to the enormous amount of people expected tot tune into the finale. As well as this, there was pre and post programs related to Friends. Before the 9pm season finale, there was an hour long tribute program dedicated to the cast of Friends. Then after the season finale at 10pm, the cast of Friends appeared on "The Tonight Show"


Distribution
 
Friends was initially aired on Sky channels and Channel 4 in the UK. Suggesting that it was a very popular show, as it went straight to Sky, emphasising that only people with sky could watch it, almost limiting the people who could watch it. Friends is distributed through the television, as that's where it was first aired, Friends is also distributed through DVD's. The Friends complete collection was released soon after the programme finished. However, more and more people are now watching it online by subscribing to websites such as Netflix. Piracy doesn't really affect the show now as it's stopped releasing new episodes, you can watch some shows/clips online nowadays. However, piracy will effect the sales of the DVD box set, the more people that are watching it illegally, the less DVD sales they will have.












Friends final season full trailer

This is promo for the tenth and final season of Friends. It's a really lengthy trailer as it lasts for over five minutes and shows us some in depth clips of what has happened in previous seasons and what is about to happen in the final season. I really like the layout of the promo because it shows various clips about each character and the major story lines they've had. I think the trailer is mainly aimed at the people who are constant viewers or who have seen it before because of the lack of titles and more clips. The trailer has hardly no explicit content. This could be because its the final season trailer, and that the producers want the trailer to appeal to a wider audience as its the final season ever of Friends, and therefore they would make more money if more people watch it.







Friends season 1-4 Trailer


The TV regulations company for the UK is called Ofcom. Ofcom regulate the TV and radio sectors to ensure that the UK get 'the best from their communications service and that they're protected from scams and sharp practices.'



Effects and Regulation/Advertising

The TV regulations company for the UK is called Ofcom. Ofcom regulate the TV and radio sectors to ensure that the UK get 'the best from their communications service and that they're protected from scams and sharp practices.' This is the trailer to Friends seasons 1-4. Compared to the 1-10 season trailer this has more controversial clips. The clips are again, all in depth however, there are more references to controversial things such as smoking and a sexual nature. For example, at various points of this trailer, Chandler is smoking a cigarette. As a result of Chandler smoking a cigarette at numerous points in this trailer, means that the trailer cannot be distributed to people younger than 12. This is because the 12 classification states that "Misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instructional detail." In this case, Chandler is smoking more than once. Also, the British Board of film Classification also states "give instructional detail", the clip doesn't directly tell the audience how to light a cigarette or how to smoke one. Therefore, I think it fits into this specific classification.  

As well as this, sexual references frequently occur. The clip sees Monica, Joey and Rachel talking about sex however, that is the only clip we see in this trailer where people are referring to sex. Although, we do see Rachel and Ross at the end of the trailer in bed together, which is implying that they may have had sex. The British Board of Film Classification explains that at the classification of a 12/12A is "Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed."

I agree with the statement because in this clip I think the clip agrees with all the statements. A sexual nature has been referred to, however that was only one time. I also think it was briefly explored in the clip, when Rachel and Ross were in the bed. Although, they didn't directly say they had sex, it was just implied.
The full season trailer has no controversial clips as it wants to cater for a wider audience as the producers want as many people to watch Friends. By not having no controversial clips in the trailer, this will enable the trailer to be distributed out to a younger audience, allowing there to be more people watching Friends. If the trailer did have controversial clips in, the trailer wouldn't be allowed to be watched by younger people. As well as this, the characters have grown up in Friends, they're are more mature, so its less likely for there to be any sexual references as they have grown up and have families.

I think this trailer should be classed as a 12 as the evidence I have shown supports the age 12 certificate. By certifying it as a 12, affects the distribution as people under the age of 12 are not allowed to watch it. Therefore, the distribution channels won't be making as much money.









Representation

Friends is a very stereotypical programme, it has a very stereotypical cast. All the characters are very different in their own way and can be found in most peoples friendship groups. For example, there is the 'girl next door' which is Rachel, the mother of the group being Monica, the nerd, which is Ross, the dumb one, which is Joey. There is no people in friends that has a different ethnic minority, they're all white people. As well as this, there are no gay people in the Friends cast. Apart from Ross's ex wife, Carol, who was a lesbian. This could suggest that gay/lesbian people weren't accepted in the times when Friends was filmed. As well as this, it could suggest that gay people were not in the 'stereotypical' friendship group in America. Although there are no gay people in the cast, Monica and Ross are both Jewish. This is representing America at the time, coffee lovers, normal to not have many ethnic friends. Coffee shops had just started out, Friends really got everyone into the hype of coffee and people copied off Friends by starting to drink and visit coffee shops more often. Friends even got the UK hooked on to coffee when it was first broadcasted. Friends brought all the stereotypical American things over to the UK with the show.

Friends was more of a middle class show. Most of the characters came from a high class background apart from Phoebe, for example, Ross and Monica's parents are very high class and wealthy. Also, Rachel's family are quite wealthy. This clip shows just how spoilt Jill is, therefore implying that Rachel has a wealthy family.

Friends has an all white cast, there are no black/ethnic people in the cast, this is suggesting that Friends is for stereotypical white people and also representing what times were like when Friends was filmed. The only recurring black character in Friends was Joeys girlfriend, Charlie. As I've said that most of the characters have a typically high class background, Phoebe is the only character who doesn't. Her farther abandoned the family when she was only young and her mother was a suspected drug dealer. Phoebe was homeless on her own. This shows a stark contrast between Phoebes childhood to Rachel's high class childhood. Even though they all have different backgrounds, it didn't matter because they were all Friends ad got on with each other, I think Friends represents this in a good way.

Questionnaire

Questionnaire



1)  Are you male or female?



 
2)  Have you ever watched Friends?

 

 
 3) How did you first go about watching Friends?

4) Do you watch friends regularly, if so how? (online, DVD etc.)

5 )Where do you watch Friends?

6) When do you watch it?




 
7) What would you rate Friends out of 10?




 

                        -ONLY ANSWER IF YOU DONT WATCH FRIENDS-




8) Why do you think Friends doesn't appeal to you?

Summary of Questionnaire

10 people answered the questionnaire.
The majority of the people who answered were female. 
7 out of 10 people liked Friends and have watched it before.
The further three out of 10 people, who disliked Friends, find it boring and didn't find it appealing to them. 
6 out of the 7 people who like Friends, watch it regularly.
5 out of the 7 people watch friends on the TV, the rest watch it on DVD's.
6 out of the 7 people watch it on an evening. 

In conclusion, i think Friends is watched by mainly the female population on TV and on an evening. Even though friends is nearly 20 years old, it is still shown on channels such as Comedy Central and has been shown on Channel 4 and E4 previously. By channel ratings, Friends still as popular as ever and dedicated fans are still supporting and watching the show. By releasing the show on new channels, more people are starting to watch it more and more and becoming new fans of it. 

P3 Audience Demographic and Audience research

Audience Demographic


Young adults became a more important demographic than ever before, regardless of all the unsuccessful Friends TV show clones.

A series with six twenty-something’s as the main characters, intensified an already growing interest in attracting a younger demographic. Advertisers saw Friends as the embodiment of a wrinkle-free series that could transfix viewers ages eighteen to forty-nine. 
Thirty-one million viewers tuning in on September 13, 2001

http://www.thinkbox.tv/server/show/nav.914

The screenshot shows

Audience Research

The psychographic audience when Friends first came to our screens was probably mid to late teens and young adults.

Age

The programme is generally aimed at women aged 16-34. The programme is mainly aimed at the younger audience because of the young nature of the characters. It could be also due to the programme being a sitcom and the repetitiveness of the same characters every episode and the way the characters are following a story. As well as this, the programme is aimed at this specific age group because of the romantic aspects, (Ross and Rachel's on and off relationship) and some sexual references. The time slot for Friends was 8:30pm. The audience benefited from this as it was a reasonable time, not too late. Realistically, the time when more of the teens/young people tuned in. Due to the age of this young audience, only some of this minority have jobs.

Gender

Friends could be aimed at all genders, considering the programme is about a group of friends with both male and female characters. There's romantic aspects for the female population and comedy aspects for the male population. Although, some story lines are arguably for the female population. For example Monica and Chandlers wedding is generally aimed at the female population, as the female population are usually more excited to get married than the male population. In addition to this, the storyline of the birth of children for example, Rachel and Ross's baby and Chandler and Monica's baby twins.

Lifestyle
Some of the people who tune into Friends are still in full time education therefore, this will mean they have quite a scheduled lifestyle. They will have a routine through the week, by going to school/college/university and then usually having the weekend off. However, the other half of this minority group could have children, which enables them to tune into Friends after the children had gone to bed. Generally, Mainstream people would tune in as Friends was classed as everyday television in its prime. These are the people that would have a daily routine. Much like youngsters who go to college and the people who work all day. These people who come home from a long day and want to catch up on their daily programme.

Spending Power

Friends was first aired on Channel 4 in the UK. Channel 4 is also known as a terrestrial television channel and is broadcasted everywhere in the UK therefore, everyone who owns a television has channel 4. This could then suggest that the younger age group will have access to this channel and then watch channel 4. However, people such as students may not be able to afford cable TV as it can be quite expensive per month. More evidence to support this is the sponsorship of Friends on channel 4 and E4. There are various sponsors including Appletiser, Mars Planets and Radox that sponsored the TV show. All these products appeal to the younger minority of the age group, as they're fairly inexpensive products and interest younger viewers. The products also reflect the kind of show Friends is, very relaxed and casual. The sponsors could also indicate what kind of gender they're appealing to. Radox is very feminine, as females are more likely to take care about their appearance. Appletiser is also very girly, as its not as fattening and isn't alcohol- which again appeals to the female audience.

Friends is no longer broadcasted on channel 4/E4, it is now broadcasted on Comedy Central, a satellite TV channel. Most people in this age group have satellite television, which enables them to have Sky. Sky is a broadcasting company which enables people to have more TV channels including Comedy Central. People in the age group end up spending more on sky packages so it enables them to watch programmes such as friends, that they can't get on terrestrial tv.


Psychographic profiles

When Friends first started out in the mid 90's, the physiographic profiles would've been explorers.

Nowadays, the physiographic profiles of the audiences of Friends has changed and I think the majority of the audience would be the mainstreamers. This is because Friends has been out for a number of years and many people grew up with friends and have seen at least one episode. A lot of people around the world are fans of friends because its aimed at such a large audience. Also, the popularity of the show in America, rubbed off in the UK too. As well as this, Friends is a relaxed and relatively 'normal' programme, the programme appeals to most people as the characters are realistic and could be found in most friendship groups, therefore more people can relate to the programme.

Thinkbox presents all the audience demographic profiles.
I think the suitable audience for Friends would be Women aged 16-34 due to the fact they consume the more telly out of the women category. Some of the information off Think box supports my view.

'Young women are big consumers of media on the whole, engaging with a variety of platforms on a daily basis. Shows such as Desperate Housewives form integral foundations of viewing and as a barrage of research demonstrates, young women utilise TV content within conversation to a staggering degree.'

Friends is aired on Comedy Central now rather than Sky, this suggests that less people in this category have Sky as it's quite expensive. Students cant generally afford Sky, therefore they don't have and cant watch Friends. Furthermore, its a generally good thing that Friends is aired on Comedy Central as more people can tune in.

'Young women are less likely to have Sky and more inclined to have Freeview than men of the same age.'

This quote on Thinkbox supports what I have just said about more women watching it as they have Freeview rather than Sky.


Genre

Friends is a rom com aimed at older teenagers and adults. A big part of Friends is the Comedy aspect to it due to the many jokes and references. It's also a comedy due to some of the cast that is involved. E.g.- Matt Le Blanc and Matthew Perry are commonly known in comedy shows, While Jenifer Aniston and Courteney Cox are usually recognised in Romantic/drama shows.


Themes/content

Friends is a very natural and realistic programme. The characters are all really relatable as the characters are all different in there own way.

A common theme that occurs frequently is love. The on and off relationship with Ross and Rachel, Monica and Chandlers shock relationship and marriage and also Phoebe and Mike's relationship. All of these relationships end up having children towards then end of them. This could suggest a theme of family running through, they all end up having a family of their own, which causes them to all go there separate ways. As well as this, they all get married at some point during the ten seasons of Friends.



Ratings in the USA

The ratings graph is showing us the amount of people watched the season premiere and the end of season finale from every Friends season. The ratings are so high because this is when Friends was new, and was a programme every week, so every episode/season was new and people had never seen it before. Also, the programme was broadcasted on highly popular channel, NBC, at the peak time of 8:30pm. Therefore, more people watched it as it was on a bigger channel and it was aired at are reasonable time.  

Season	Season premiere	Season finale	TV season		Viewers  in millions)
1	September 22, 1994	May 18, 1995	1994–95		24.3
2	September 21, 1995	May 16, 1996	1995–96		29.4
3	September 19, 1996	May 15, 1997	1996–97		25.0
4	September 25, 1997	May 7, 1998	1997–98		24.1
5	September 24, 1998	May 20, 1999	1998–99		23.5
6	September 23, 1999	May 18, 2000	1999–2000		20.7
7	October 12, 2000	May 17, 2001	2000–01		20.2
8	September 27, 2001	May 16, 2002	2001–02		24.5
9	September 26, 2002	May 15, 2003	2002–03		21.6
10	September 25, 2003	May 6, 2004	2003–04		22.8

Ratings in the UK- present day


This screen shot is of viewing ratings for Friends on the channel Comedy Central to this present day. From the data I can see that Friends is the fourth most viewed program on the list with 135,000 viewers. This is quite high rating as its on a Sunday night, at 17:30. 17:30 not being peak time. Compared to the USA ratings above, the audiences compared to the UK are relatively small. However, the UK is small company compared to the US and Friends is now 20 years old, which gives people a reason to stop watching the seasons as its quite an old programme. Due to research I have done, this was one of the excuses on my questionnaire as to why people don't watch friends. As well as this, people may have seen the episodes before and might have got bored of watching friends. Another reason for the small audiences is that Friends is shown on a smaller TV channel, Comedy Central.