Audiences

Audiences

What is an audience?
An audience is a group of people who read or consume anything which includes any media text
All texts in media are made with a specific audience in mind. When planning a media text, a very important question to consider is 'Does it have an audience'

Why are audiences important?
Well without an audience there would be no media, the Media organisations produce media texts in order to make a profit..therefore, no audience = no profit. The mass media is becoming a lot more competitive, this is to attract more audiences in different ways which helps the media stay profitable.

Uses and Gratifications
Two theorists Katz and Blumler were two men who researched audience behaviour to find out the uses of media text for a variety of reasons.
The information which they would find out is

• Information - they find out about events, satisfying curiosity gaining a sense of security through knowledge. For example,  Newspapers which would enable them to learn about current events
• Personal Identity - The reinforcement for personal values, finding models of behaviour, insight into ones self. For example, Twitter. This enables us to follow certain people who reinforce our personal values.
• Integration and social interaction - insight into circumstances of others; social empathy, identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging, interaction, enabling one to connect  with family, friends and society. For example a television sitcom or soap, such as Eastenders or scrubs, which enables us to connect with the characters and relate to them and their situations

Impact of new technology on Audiences
Older media such as television, print and radio used to have high audience numbers which now must work a lot harder to maintain their audience numbers.
Digital technology has also led to an increasing uncertainty over how we define an audience, with the agreement that a larger group of people reading the same thing at the same time is now outdated and that audiences are now 'fragmented'