Niche Audiences:

A niche audience is a smaller and more specific group of people that a media text is aimed at. Texts are often scheduled and placed in more inconspicuous ways and therefore it is easy for mainstream audiences to miss them. With the increased improvement of technology nowadays, it is far easier to catch up on niche programmes now. A programme that airs at 3am is very easy to watch in the evening at a person's leisure on catch up TV. This is how niche texts sometimes convert to mainstream texts.

An example of texts with niche audiences would be:

Danish/Swedish crime drama 'The Bridge' is a hit in other countries but virtually unknown in the UK. It airs in a foreign country, and therefore isn't seen by British viewers, unless they seek it out online. 

MUTV has a very select audience due to its very specific subject area. It also only airs on Sky television, therefore narrowing it's audience because not everybody subscribes and pays for Sky TV.

Breaking Bad is a great example of a TV show that began with a niche audience, but over time developed a far more mainstream audience as its fan base grew and the series progressed. Breaking Bad premiered on American cable channel AMC which is a subscription only channel. When it premiered in the UK it was on channel 5* which is a very niche channel. It wasn't until online catch up giant Netflix gained the rights to show Breaking Bad that it became popular, showing the power of technology.

Producers of media texts determine whether they will aim their texts at by broadcasting a visual text or publishing a written text in discrete places. TV shows with niche audiences will often be shown after the watershed and out of prime time TV viewing hours, for example, at 7 o'clock in the evening when the majority of people will be sitting down to watch television, a mainstream text will be broadcast to generate more income. A niche show broadcast to a mainstream audience would not have a positive reception.