Every media product has a clear purpose. It might entertain, inform, educate, promote a product
or service, raise awareness of an issue or encourage the audience to take action.
What is the Purpose of Media Products?
The purpose of a media product explains why it has been created.
Common purposes include to inform, entertain,
educate, promote, advertise,
raise awareness and persuade an audience.
Many products have more than one purpose. For example, a charity video might both
raise awareness of an issue and encourage donations, while
a game trailer might entertain and promote the game.
Key points you must remember
- Products are usually designed to inform, entertain,
educate, promote or raise awareness.
- One product can have more than one purpose at the same time.
- The purpose is linked to the target audience and client requirements.
- Content, style and tone must match the purpose (e.g. serious, fun, formal, informal).
- Understanding purpose helps you answer exam questions about suitability and improvements.
Purposes of Media Products at a Glance
This infographic helps you remember the main purposes of media products and how to explain them
clearly in exam questions.
- Inform: give factual information (news articles, information posters, help pages).
- Entertain: provide enjoyment or escapism (films, games, comedy videos).
- Educate: teach skills or knowledge (revision sites, tutorials, documentaries).
- Promote / advertise: raise interest in a product, service, event or brand.
- Raise awareness: highlight an issue or cause (charity campaigns, PSAs).
- Exam link: a product can have more than one purpose – explain the combination.
Inform · Entertain · Educate
- Purpose + audience: explain who it is for and why that group needs this purpose.
- Purpose + content: show how images, text, audio and layout support the purpose.
- Purpose + platform: describe why a website, app, poster or video is the best choice.
- Purpose + success: suggest how success could be measured (views, clicks, sales, feedback).
- Combined purposes: e.g. “entertain and promote” or “raise awareness and persuade”.
- Exam tip: use phrases like “This is effective because it…” followed by an impact on the audience.
Audience · Content · Impact
Games to Practise Purpose of Media Products
Use these games to practise matching products to purposes, linking purpose to audience and
improving exam-style explanations and justifications.
All topics
iMedia Genius
The flagship exam-style quiz covering every R093 question type: MCQs, short answers,
binary questions, bonus rounds and timed scoring.
Exam-style
All R093 content
Mixed difficulty
Product design
Client Brief Detective
Race the clock to find key information in client briefs: purpose, audience,
timescales, ethos and constraints.
Short answers
Client brief
Constraints
Product design
Audience Matcher
Use segmentation categories such as age, income, lifestyle and interests to
match media products to the correct audience.
MCQs
Segmentation
Targeting
Purpose
Purpose of Media Products
Decide whether each product mainly aims to inform, educate, entertain, promote, sell or raise awareness.
Arcade quiz
Purpose
Exam skills
Exam Practice – Purpose of Media Products
Q1. State one purpose of a poster advertising a music festival. (1 mark)
Technique: Give one clear purpose such as to promote the event
or to inform people of the date and location.
Q2. Explain one way a charity video can raise awareness of an issue. (2 marks)
Technique: Make one clear point (e.g. showing real stories, facts,
emotive footage) and then explain how this affects the audience.
Example structure: “The video raises awareness by… This makes the audience…”
Q3. Describe one way a mobile game can be designed to entertain its target audience. (3 marks)
Technique: Describe a specific feature (e.g. challenge level, rewards,
storyline, graphics) and then develop your answer by linking it to enjoyment for the audience.
Q4. Explain two ways a school website could be used to inform parents. (4 marks)
Technique: Give two separate ways (e.g. news articles, calendar, downloadable
letters). For each, explain how it helps parents stay updated or take action.
Q5. A games company is launching a new sports game and is planning a cross-media campaign
including posters, social media posts and a video trailer. Discuss how the purposes of these
media products might be different, and explain how each one helps the overall campaign. (9 marks)
Technique: Compare the purposes of each product (e.g. trailer to entertain
and showcase gameplay, posters to promote and raise awareness, social media posts to engage
and remind). Explain how they work together and finish with a justified conclusion.
- Paragraph 1: Purpose of the video trailer (entertain, promote, inform about features).
- Paragraph 2: Purpose of posters (promote, create recognition, raise awareness).
- Paragraph 3: Purpose of social media posts (engage, remind, encourage sharing).
- Final paragraph: Conclusion – how combining these purposes makes the campaign stronger.
Can You Now…?
- List common purposes of media products with examples.
- Explain how purpose links to target audience and content.
- Compare the purposes of different products in a campaign.
