Mest 1 Audience

MEST 1/3
3. Audience

Measuring Audience
Categorisation through age, gender, occupation, geographical location, social status, lifestyle
Measured through BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board) RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) NRS (National Readership Survey)
High income audiences most valuable

Theories
Original theories took no account of audience
Later, Post-modern theory suggested that audiences make up all meaning for themselves
Today a middle ground is generally the accepted view – that meanings are negotiated between Audience and Text Producer

Moral Panics
Audience as passive receiver of text
Lack of substantial or clear evidence to support this claim – no clear link can be made (Home Office study 1997 Dr Kevin Browne)
What seems to happen is the Audience convert the text for their own purpose – example Antiques Roadshow viewed as Cultural programme or Interactive Gameshow?

Banned or questioned

violence
The general consensus seems to be that the media can affect a small number but that this number may be affected by many other issues
Violence at home is key factor to preference for watching violence

Media Effects
Most effects research has assumed the media text holds the power – change the text, change the behaviour
Hypodermic needle studies suggest audience are passive and en masse absorb the media message.
The model most often considered in moral panics about the media

Media Effects cont.d
Cultivation studies examine the attitudes to media as well a patterns of behaviour over a long period of time – cultivation. For example examining the effects of TV on heavy users with infrequent users
These studies show powerful effects of the media but criticised because they cannot explain why or how

Reception theory or audience positioning often collects qualitative data – on peoples feelings of media particularly of soap operas and entertainment shows. The studies wanted to find out how people receive and interpret texts.
Criticised for being funded by the large entertainment corporations and so findings often thought of as inconclusive.
This theory suggests that the audience is forced into a position in relation to the text – sympathise, anger, agreement etc.
Theory assumes that the text is encoded with a preferred meaning and that audience should receive this version of meaning

Uses and Gratifications theory (Blumler and Katz) suggests that media fulfills different needs in the audience – for diversion (escapism), personal relationships (interaction), personal identity (comparison and judgement, surveillance (information and understanding of the world)
One finding showed that young viewers particularly view tv for information and so are vulnerable to influence.
This theory is criticised for ignoring the power of the media or that advertisers can manipulate needs
It is also criticised because viewers may not know why they watched something or may given an answer suggested to them

Two-step theory suggests a more dynamic relationship between audience and text as opposed to the uni-directional Hypodermic model
Texts are often filtered through opinion leaders who communicate the message to others – hence the two-step. The message is mediated through the opinions given to them by the influential opinion leaders
This theory suggests the power of social and contextual factors in textual reading and diminishes the power of the text producers themselves.

Diagram courtesy of

Ethnographic theories centre on audience reaction to representations by observing, asking focused questions etc.
Criticism suggest the powerful nature of the interviewer being present with the audience for a lengthy amount of time to influence results.

Audience as products
Mass media ‘deliver’ audiences to advertisers
Teams of people work to sell airtime in different slots on TV
Traditional view institutions use advertising revenue to make programme
Noam Chomsky’s view that programmes made to deliver audience to the advertiser.
This could be true of commercial TV but what about BBC? Channel 4?

Audience as Labour
Audience gathered to view advertsing
Audience have to ‘work’ to enjoy their favourite programmes especially in US programmes by sitting through extensive advertising – 30 minute infomericals

Mest 1 Audience

by Kate McCabe on Feb 09, 2011

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