The categories A, B, C1, C2, D and E are generally used by producers to analyze their audience. The categories are actually a system of demographic classification and they represent the following:
 Often these grades are being used together to describe specific groups – for instance, ABC1 and C2DE, which categorize the first three and second three social classes respectively and thus generalize audience as “middle class” and “working class”. The upper social class is obviously not included in the categorization, because only 2% of UK population is included in that class.
This system was introduced over 50 years ago by the NRS – National Readership Survey, based on studies of newspaper and magazine consumers. It is a non-profit, but commercial British survey, funded by the UK Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA), and Periodical Publishers Association (PPA).
The social grades are especially important to producers as they allow extensive research and categorization of the target audience and analysis of the probable acceptance of one product or another. Moreover, the grades allow the possibility for consumer targeting and thus realization of bigger profit, based on product content.
Understanding these categories is especially important for getting an idea of what the target audience wants. For instance, there is a theory that A, B and C1s are far more likely to buy a broadsheet newspaper than C2DE categorized, whereas commercial radio generally targets the C1, C2 and D categories, as A and B categories are more likely to spend money after doing their “due diligence” and finding the right product. It has been argued that the NRS social class grades of categorizing demographics are not entirely adequate, as there might be a lot of exceptions and there might be better ways of categorizing people. However, this classification has proven very useful to describe and analyze target audience, thus allowing production for specific groups and advertising in specific places to achieve the most profit.
Sources:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRS_social_grade
2. http://www.webwindows.co.uk/what-does-abc1-mean.html
3. http://rad10.olib.co.uk/sales/easy-as-a-b-and-c1s/
4. http://www.businessballs.com/demographicsclassifications.htm
5. http://www.jaywingdmg.com/opinion/234-not-quite-as-simple-as-abc1
6. http://www.aduk.org/jargonbuster/S/social-grade
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