Audience Theory - A2 MEDIA STUDIES

1. AUDIENCE THEORY

2. USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY
BLUMLER AND KATZ
Media consumers choose texts that fulfil one or more of these needs:
• The need to be informed and educated about the world in which they live in
• The need to identity personally with characters and situations in order to
learn more about themselves
• The need to be entertained by a range and variety of well constructed texts
• The need to use social media as a talking point for social interaction or
discussion
• The need to escape from their daily life into other worlds and situations.

3. MASLOW’S HIERCAHY OF
NEEDS
Maslow's Hierarchy allows producers to understand
what MOTIVATES target audiences to watch and
interact with films.
While media texts cannot fulfill physiological needs
or safety, they can help people find meaning in
relationships and connect with others which can
contribute to LOVE & BELONGING, can boost
audience's self-ESTEEM, and allow people to
become a part of a group e.g. a fan community
which adds to their self-actualisation.

4. HYPODERMIC NEEDLE THEORY
Hypodermic needle effect
The hypodermic needle theory is related to passive audience (specialy mass-
media from 1950's-1960's) and has a direct, immediate and powerful effect,
the information and message is purely injected through adverting and
propaganda with the purpose to trigger an expected response.
The input of media can be quite dangerous for audience considering that
can have a negative impact, specially among teenagers and children, like
game production in our days.

5. AUDIENCE AND MEDIA RELATIONSHIPS
• MARXIST THEORY
Media is part of the superstructure and the ideological state apparatus. We (the proletariat? Are ‘ruled’
through the ideologies of the bourgeoisie represented in the media. These ideologies are what we accept as
normal.
• STUART HILL
Disagrees with above and argued that texts are encoded by the producers and decoded by the audience. The
dominant ideology is the preferred referred reading and that other readings are negotiated or oppositional as
the audience chooses to accept or reject the ideologies.
• PLULARLISTS
Society is made up of different groups with competing interests and these are represented in different ways
in the media. The audience select and reject the ideologies as they wish – the relationship between audience
and media is voluntary. The media want to attract the mass audience so they give them what they want so it
could be argued that the media works on a supply and demand basis.