As the level of interaction between consumers of and providers of media has increased, primarily as a result of the internet, but also coming from the rise in transmedia storytelling, media providers have shifted from broadcasts to narrowcasts. These narrowcasts are often made on the basis of information gleaned from two sources. The first, and weaker, of these is demographic, classifying people by their age, sex, race, ethnic group, residence or religious or political affiliation. Demographic studies are only able to provide vague, quantitative statistics that may no longer be of any use. By far the more useful source of information for advertisers, which also provides better options for both consumers and media providers, are psychographics. These are more qualitative statistics that describe people’s beliefs, values or attitudes toward particular ideas or events. While these statistics are harder to determine, they are a greater source of what people are likely to find to be worth pursuing. These measurements provide a way for people to express their interests in areas lying outside of traditional views. Although they are far more valuable then demographics, psychographics are by no means the only measurements that advertisers and media providers use to determine how to market their products.
