Uses and Gratifications Theory examines how audiences actively engage with media to fulfill various needs. It was developed by Blumler and Katz who argued that people's social and psychological origins generate expectations of media that lead to differential exposure patterns fulfilling needs and other consequences. The theory suggests that media use fulfills cognitive needs for knowledge, affective needs for emotion/pleasure, personal integrative needs for status/self-esteem, and social integrative needs for social interaction. The internet has expanded media options and allowed audiences more control over fulfilling these needs.

1. Uses and
Gratifications Theory

2. What is it?
• Researchers of this theory include Blumler and Katz, they developed the Uses and Gratification theory
over a number of years.
• It is an ‘audience’ theory about how we interact with media, and it can be applied to all forms of media:
 Film
 Television
 Radio
 Music
The theory assumes that the audience take an active role in interpreting and integrating
media into their own lives. The theory also hols the audience responsible for choosing the
media to meet their needs. Altogether the approach suggests that people use the media to
fulfil their specific gratifications.
Blumler & Katz (1974) argued that audience needs have social and psychological origins which
generate certain expectations about the mass media, leading to differential patterns of media
exposure which result in both the gratification of needs and in other (often unintended)
consequences. This does assume an active audience making motivated choices. However,
McQuail suggests that the dominant stance of recent researchers in this tradition is now that:
Personal social circumstances and psychological dispositions together influence both... general
habits of media use and also... beliefs and expectations about the benefits offered by the
media, which shape... specific acts of media choice and consumption, followed by....
assessments of the value of the experience (with consequences for further media use) and,
possibly... applications of benefits acquired in other areas of experience and social activity.

3. What is it meant to do?
• When we choose a form of media it is suggested that the uses
and gratifications theory has to fulfil one of the following
when we choose a form of media:
• Identify- being able to recognise the product or person in front
of you, role models that reflect similar values to yours,
aspiration to be someone else.
• Educate- being able to acquire information, knowledge and
understanding
• Entertain- what you are consuming should give you enjoyment
and also some form of ‘escapism’ enabling us to forget our
worries temporarily.
• Social Interaction- the ability for media products to produce a
topic of conversation between other people and sparks
debates.

4. Why do we watch?
• Cognitive needs:
• People use media for acquiring knowledge, information etc., Among the audience some of them have intellectual
needs to acquire knowledge this is not common to all only certain people have their need, each person have a
different need for e.g. quiz programs on TV, in order to acquire knowledge and information you will watch news to
satisfy the need, search engines in the internet, they make use of these to gain more knowledge. Particularly for
the internet search engine they can browse for any topic under the run with no time restriction.
• Affective needs:
• It includes all kinds of emotions, pleasure and other moods of the people. People use media like television to
satisfy their emotional needs
• The best example is people watch serials and if there is any emotional or sad scene means people used to cry.
• Personal Integrative needs:
• This is the self-esteem need. People use media to reassure their status, gain credibility and stabilize. so people
watch TV and assure themselves that they have a status in society for e.g. people get to improve their status by
watching media advertisements like jewellery ad , furniture’s ad and buy products, so the people change their life
style and media helps them to do so.
• Social Integrative needs:
• It encompasses the need to socialize with family, friends and relations in the society. For social interaction now a
days people do not seems to have social gathering in weekend, instead they do such social interaction using media
like the social networking sites to satisfy their needs instead.

5. • Another example is you may not watch the particular series but
because your friend watching, you also start watching so that
you have common topics for discussion.
• Tension free needs:
• People sometimes use the media as a means of escapism and to
relieve from tension
• For e.g. People tend to relax watching TV, listening to radio and
for satisfying their need for entertainment there by relaxing
from all the tension, people watch films, films on TV.

6. Has the internet helped?
• Because of search engines like Google we can now search for
anything and there are endless things we can find. It allows an
audience member to become closer to their role model that is
in the public eye and music has benefited greatly because of
websites like YouTube enabling us to have access to any music
video at any time.
• Things like YouTube, iTunes and 4OD are all just examples of
the many ways we can be entertained at our convenience.
• Because we are so open to social media such as; Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram etc. we can socialise and spread whether
we like what we are watching, therefore encouraging or in fact
discouraging others to do the same.
• The internet as a whole allows us the freedom to escape
worries and everyday monotony whenever it is needed.

7. To conclude…
• The theory insinuates that media can have an unconscious
influence over our lives and how we view the world. The idea
that we simply use the media to satisfy a given need does not
seem to fully recognise the power of the media in todays
society.
• People have criticised the theory because that have reason to
believe that the public in fact has no real control over the
media and what it produces.
• However the theory may be more relevant in modern society
as the internet TV enables us to have much more freedom
and control over what we consume.