Audience profiling works on stereotypes. This is the only way that it can work - making generalisations about certain social groups in order to make quick and easy assumptions about what sort of audience the film would appeal to. This does not mean that all the stereotypes are right, as virtually anyone is an anomaly in their own way, making audience profiling much harder. Audiences tend to be split into groups by age, gender, class, nationality and sometimes, though rarely, race. Stereotypically a Western male, aged 16-25 of working to middle class background enjoys fast-paced action movies. Just changing one of those factors, would change the genre completely, for example, a Western female, aged 16-25 of working to middle class background would stereotypically enjoy chick-flicks. On the other hand, a Western female, aged 65+, of middle class background would stereotypically enjoy period dramas. Many factors come into play when working with audience profiling, and a film that fails to get the right audience would be a flop.
'Avatar' is fortunate in that it targets just about anyone in the 16-25 demographic. Its fast-paced action sequences, battle set pieces and outer-space setting appeals to the male working class to middle class audience. Also appealing to this audience is the advances in CGI technology that it displays. Many people in this audience stereotypically assume that good CGI is what makes a film good, rather than the acting, storyline or anything else. This audience is primarily concerned with visual spectacle, which Avatar delivers. It also appeals to a 16-25 female audience, through the 'Dances with Wolves' style romance that it delivers. In the advertising campaign it didn't really weigh very heavily on this aspect, however, perhaps as it was trying to attract the male audience more. With feminism becoming more and more fashionable amongst young women in recent years, the strong female characters in the film give it extra appeal. In addition to all of this, the film was nominated for several Oscars including Best Picture. In the run up to the Oscar's there was a lot of competition between Avatar and The Hurt Locker as to who was going to win Best Picture, and although Avatar didn't win in the end, it was still seen as a very critically acclaimed film. This attracts the Upper Class audience and many people above the age of 25.
