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Central Desi Audience Research Project

Understanding Needs in New Jersey's South Asian Community
Bilaal Ahmed
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Project Overview

Central Desi aims to serve as a platform for community journalism and engagement for New Jersey's South Asian American population.
This research project will examine the community's news consumption habits, information needs, community engagement, and perspectives on civic participation. Our goal is to better serve the community through journalism initiatives tailored to their values and behaviors, specifically this document offers a guide to help
Map distinct audience segments,
Highlight interests and opportunities, and
Outline recommendations
Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used, including surveys, focus groups, interviews and data analysis. Key questions relate to sources of news and information, the role of community journalism, barriers to civic participation, and feedback on Central Desi's current offerings.
The project will result in data-driven and community-informed strategic recommendations for enhancing Central Desi's content, formats, partnerships and engagement models to drive impact.

Background

Problem Statement

There is a lack of community-driven news coverage and civic participation among New Jersey's South Asian American population.

Key Questions:

How can community journalism initiatives like Central Desi best serve the community? What types of content and engagement formats resonate most?
How might we segment the community audience based on demographics, behaviors and values to better target content?
Where are the gaps in what the community currently needs? Where is there alignment with what CD can offer?
What are the common news/information sources and formats used by the community? What content do they find most valuable?
How does the community currently perceive its role and representation in civic life? What are the main barriers to greater participation?
What issues and topics do community members want to see covered that currently get little to no attention?
What partnerships could help increase the reach and impact of community journalism efforts?
What business models and revenue approaches could help support and sustain community journalism initiatives in the long term?

Project's Stages

A Market research needs to follow different stage one after the other. List all the questions you'll try to answer at every stage.
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Stage 1 - Who is currently engaging with the newsletter?
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In this stage you want to gather information about your audience.
What segments of the South Asian community do we reach? Age, geography, affiliation, etc.
How deeply are they engaging? Open rates, click rates, event participation, etc.

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Stage 2 - What do we know about your market?
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In this stage you need to define and collect data about your TAM.
What are the trusted news sources? Format and preferences?
What topics get low coverage but have high community interest?
What motivates or limits civic participation?
What needs are not being met or where are there hidden opportunities?

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Stage 3 - How could we better serve the community?
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With the work done in stage 1 and 2 you'll have a better idea of what your ideal audience look like. The goal is to understand:
Which segments should we further target based on needs/interests?
What partnership opportunities exist to increase reach and credibility?
What content formats and engagement models appeal to different segments?

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Definition - What is Market Segmentation?

Market segmentation is the process of defining and subdividing a large homogeneous market into identifiable segments that have similar needs, wants, or demand characteristics. A market segment should be homogeneous, measurable, substantial, accessible, actionable, and responsive.
Learn more in stage 1:
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Definition: What is TAM?

TAM stands for “total addressable market”. It's the total amount of yearly revenue that you could achieve if you manage to reach 100% of the people who could use your product. Too small, and you won't make any money; too big, and you'll struggle to focus.
TAM shows you the size of the universe—from there you need to determine how much of the market you can actually serve, and which market you want to target first.
Learn more in stage 2:
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