Market research: format etc of show...

When looking at current successful children's television programmes, there are 3 areas in which I will focus this post. 
1 - length of episode (this may depend on target audience as younger children tend to have shorter attention spans). 
2 - level of interactivity (some programmes are interactive with their audience by speaking to them in present tense and asking for participation, some are educational and some are merely entertaining). 
3 - target audience (in the brief it merely states 'children's television programme' it does not specify an age range, therefore we may want to explore different aged target audiences; however we are focusing on younger children's programmes for our product).




Dora the Explorer
- Average episode length: 30mins
(OTS: approx. 40secs)
- very interactive: 
e.g - Dora addresses the audience as if they were there at the time of the event
and - Whilst teaching viewers basic words/phrases in Spanish, Dora asks for audience participation by getting the audience to repeat the words/phrases.
T.A: 2 - 5 yr olds.






Peppa Pig

- Average episode length: 5mins

(OTS: approx. 15secs)

- educational: - teaches audience, for example about new life situations, via Peppa's (alongside her family and friends) experiences. This is also known as didactic learning. (Didactic learning is teaching a lesson, often including a moral.) However, it isn't considered 'interactive' as audience are merely looking in on Peppa's life; as apposed to being a part of it.

T.A: 1 - 6 yr olds.

In the Night Garden

- Average episode length: 33mins

(OTS: approx. 2mins)

- entertainment: - It's been argued that because the 'In the Night Garden' characters and situations bare little resemblance to real life, added to the fact that the characters cannot speak and the only speech in simple narration, children aren't taught anything (with the exception of learning about this 'pretend world' the characters live in), merely entertained. However this programme is praised for promoting creativity in children as it allows them to believe in 'pretend worlds' etc.

T.A: 1 - 4 yr olds.

Joe and I have decided that our 'format' will be didactic. There will be a moral learned by audience, through the characters learning the moral, which in turn will educate viewers. (Our primary aim is to educate and entertain the viewers by means of them watching the protagonist go through certain situations where they learn something new.) We felt it was important for our viewers to learn something from our text, as at this age of our TA (1-4yrs) the child is not in compolsory education and therefore the only way they can 'learn things' is by interactions with carers/family/friends etc or by media.