Media Audiences

An Introduction

A Reminder…

• What do we define as ‘the media’?

• What different types of media do we ‘consume’?

Your Media Life

• Make a list of as many different ways that you have consumed media in the past week?

• What 3 different ‘texts’ have you used the most?

What is an Audience?

• An audience is a group of people that consume similar media in a certain way

• The method in which an audience is ‘constructed’ or ‘located’ is always beneficial to a powerful group of people

Why Study Audiences?

1. By identifying an audience you can predict behaviour.

2. A viewer can then adapt their own understanding of a text

Types of Audiences

What different categories can we put audiences in?

Audience Classification

• It is useful to first split audiences into these categories:

o Socio-Economic Statuso Psychographics / moodoDemographicso Technology

Socioeconomic StatusGroup Example Job Type

Wage Bracket

AUpper Class

Higher Managerial, Admin & Professional (Managers &

Lawyers)£50,000 +

BMiddle Class

Intermediate Managerial, Admin & Professional

£25,000 - £50,000

C1Lower

middle ClassSupervisor / junior manager

£15,000 – £25,000C2

Skilled working

class

Skilled Manual Workers

DWorking

ClassSemi-Unskilled workers £7,000 -

£15,000

ELow income

earners

Pensioners / Widows, Casual workers, Students

£5,000 - £7,000

Psychographics / Mood

• Psychographics can change over time

• They reflect an audience member’s:

oAttitudes o Personality oValues

Demographics

• Demographics are static attributes that rarely change

• They refer to an audience’s:

oAge / Gender / Ethnicity / Sexual Orientation / Regional Identity

Technology

• The medium or institution that an audience uses to consume media

• This could refer to:

o ITV / Radio 1 / Netflix / Vogue / Twitter

Examples of Constructed Audiences

• A ‘Playstation 3’ audience• An elderly audience• A gay audience• A Twitter audience• A tired (post-work) audience

Some Examples

Film advertising

Fast Girls (2012)

• Girls / aged 15-24 / Post-secondary school• Londoners / Urban• Sporty / aspirational • C1 / C2 socioeconomic status

• Kidulthood / The Misfits / Step Up / Skins

The Best Marigold Hotel (2012)

• Men & Women / aged 50 + / Retirees• Southern England/ Rural / Ex-pats• Worldly/ reflective• A / B socioeconomic status

• The King’s Speech / The Boat That Rocked

Specific Audience Models

What is the Theory?

Active Vs. Passive Consumption

• Media texts are ‘consumed’ by different audiences in different ways – an audience member can be Passive or Active

• Passive – a passive model of consumption suggests that texts have an effect on the audience

• Active – an active model instead suggests that audiences interact with the text to create meaning

Interactive television

Which TV shows force you to interact?

Interactivity

Physical Interactivity

Social Interactivity

Intellectual Interactivity

Emotional Interactivity

Content Interactivity

A handshake / a keyboard / a controller

Joining a group / phoning in / talking with other fans /

Forming an opinion / having a thoughtful response

Crying at a sad scene / laughing at a joke

Creating a blog / Retweeting / leaving a comment

The main differencesPassive Active

Accepting opinions

Paying little attention

Watching a game

Forming opinions

Paying full attention

Playing a game

A passive model

Audience

Text

A media text has a direct influence on a passive audience

An active model

Audience

TextAudiences engage with what they

consume and are actively making

their own meanings

Uses & Gratifications

InformationPersonal Identity

Social Integration

Entertainment

Information

• Finding out about relevant events and conditions in immediate surroundings, society and the world

• Seeking advice on practical matters or opinion and decision choices

• Satisfying curiosity and general interest • Learning; self-education • Gaining a sense of security through

knowledge

Personal Identity

• Finding reinforcement for personal values • Finding models of behaviour• Identifying with valued other (in the media) • Gaining insight into one's self

Integration and Social Interaction

• Gaining insight into circumstances of others; social empathy

• Identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging

• Finding a basis for conversation and social interaction

• Having a substitute for real-life companionship

• Helping to carry out social roles • Enabling one to connect with family, friends

and society

Entertainment• Escaping, or being diverted, from problems• Relaxing • Getting intrinsic cultural or aesthetic

enjoyment • Filling time • Emotional release • Sexual arousal

In Groups…• We are going to create a profile of the

gratifications people get from different genres.

o Sporto Reality TVo Soap Operaso Documentaries

Talk Shows

Information• Different subject matter each episode

• ‘Real life’ issues and problems

• Based on families / relationships

• Taboo subject matter

Social Integration• Watch with friends / family

• Empathise with guests of show

• Tweet along / talk about with others later

• Substitute for conversation with real-life companion – conversational mode of address

Personal Identity• Reinforces beliefs about family life and

relationship ethics

• Provides advice about personal problems

• Identify with similar characters

• Recognisably British

Entertainment• Probably involve a fight or an argument

• Familiar format – easy to watch

• Laugh at the misfortunate – reassuring about own possible problems

• ‘Shocking’ subject matter

How does the genre appeal to peoples need for:• Information• Social Integration• Entertainment• Personal Identity

In your groups