Audience Revision

Audience:

• Groups/individuals targeted by producers as the intended consumer of texts
• Some viewers/consumers/readers might not have been the intended audience due to wide availability of texts
• Identification of target audience is crucial for marketing/advertising - categorised according to factors including age, gender, etc.
• Considered active/passive depending on point or view.

Passive:

• Hypodermic needle
• Two step flow
• Cultivation theory

Hypodermic Needle:

People do not question, they just accept

People trust what they see in the media

Injected with ideologies

Controlling the media will help to control their population

Two-step Flow:

This theory implies that a more active audience will discuss the media texts with each other. If the text is discussed with someone who has respect (opinion leader) then we may be passive enough to accept their received views of the text [think of how we listen to TV and Film critics]. Bloggers and make up gurus encourage this.

Cultivation Theory:

This theory implies that a single text does not have much effect, repeated exposure will make the audience less sensitive (desensitised. Think of all the violence on TV and how we just accept it. It takes something very graphic or real to shock audiences now. 

Active:

• Reception Theory
• Uses and Gratifications

Reception Theory

Reception theory is an active audience theory which considers an audience as actively engaged in the decoding of a text.

There are different ways an audience can decode a text:

-Dominant or preferred reading [I enjoy...]

-Negotiated reading [I appreciate...but...]

-Oppositional reading [I hate...]

Uses and Gratifications

Personal identity (identifying themselves as part of an audience)

Information (finding out about the world, events, etc)

Entertainment (escape from reality, emotional release)

Social integration (discussions, companionship, camaraderie)