AUDIENCE

THEORIES

B Y J OS H W

R I GH T

O V E R V I E W

The audience are the people who view any given media text, weather it be a film or a magazine. All media texts are produced with the audience in mind. There are four main audience theories which are separated by weather the audience is active or passive.

Passive audiences is an audience that merely observes and event rather than actively responding it.Active audiences on the other hand use the media to satisfy their needs, active media audiences do not just receive information passively but are actively involved.

Why study audiences?

- By identifying an audience you are able to predict audience behaviour.

- Allows viewers to adapt their won understanding of a media text.

H Y P O D E R M I C N E E D L E MODEL

The hypodermic needle is a passive theory, as the media text is believed by the audience without questioning it. It would be active if the audience questioned it and used it to satisfy their needs, but they do not therefore showing that this theory is passive. The theory as is a model of communications suggesting that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver.The theory was developed in the 1920s and 1930s after researchers observed the effect of propaganda during World War I. The hypodermic needle theory suggests that media messages are injected directly into the brains of the passive audience. It suggests that we all respond to media messages the same way. Hypodermic needle theory has caused concern as it suggests the input of the media can be quite dangerous as it can have a negative impact on the audience, mainly among children. Violent video games, TV shows, and films are the main concern.

T W O S T E P F L O WTwo step flow is also a passive theory, the two-step flow of communication model hypothesizes that ideas flow from mass media to opinion leaders, and from them to a wider population. It was first introduced by sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld and elaborated in 1944 by Elihu Katz and Lazarsfeld.This theory consists of two steps as the title suggests, the first step starts with the 'opinion leaders' who are highly respected, they consume the media text with full attention, after this they pass on information about the media text as well as their opinion on it. The second step involves the people who are in contact with the opinion leader, they receive information from the opinion leader as well as there opinion and consume it without question, this is because of the respect the have for them and their social status. This causes one persons opinion to become many peoples opinions just because they have a high status in society. A good example of this model is those with a large social media following expressing their opinions on social media about media content and their followers blindly agreeing with their opinion without actually consuming the media themselves.

U S E S A N D G R A T I F I C A T I O N S

Blumler and Katz’s uses and gratification theory suggests that media users play an active role in choosing a particular media text. They both argued that a media user seeks out a media source that best fulfils the needs of the user. This theory states what people do with media rather than what media does to people. Blumler and Katz believe that there is not just one way that people use media texts. According to the theory, media consumers have a free will to decide how they will use the media texts and how it will affect them.Blumler and Katz believe that media consumers can choose the influence media texts have on them, such as using them to escape from reality or finding themselves in particular media texts. Uses and gratifications theory rules out the possibility that the media can have an unconscious rule over our lives and how we view the world, thus this theory is an active theory as the audience consume the media with the aim off gaining a specific need out of it, the audience don't consume the media and accept it without questioning the content as a passive theory would state. Blumler and Katz stated that individuals may consume a media text for the following purposes… (on next slide).

DiversionPeople may use the media as a means of escapism and to relieve from tension and stress of their everyday lives and routine. People tend to relax watching TV, listening to the radio etc, as they forget about what is going on in the world around them and only focus on the media text. The way in which people are satisfied by particular types of media texts is individualistic, e.g. some watch news to relax and some get very stressed by watching the news. The Program is same but individuals use it to satisfy different needs

Personal relationshipsPeople may use media to socialize with family, friends and others within society. Recently it’s becoming less common for people to have social gatherings at weekend on a regular basis due to the influence of media within the current generation. Instead people tend to socialize using media like the social networking sites like, Facebook, talking about the latest movies or how well they are doing on the latest popular video game, e.g. individuals may start to watch a particular T.V series because there friends watch it so they will have a common topic to discuss when they see each other.

SurveillancePeople may use media for acquiring knowledge and information. Each individual acquires knowledge in a different way e.g. quiz programs, watching the news, reading newspapers, crime programmes such as CSI or documentaries. These types of people generally avoid programmes such a soap operas and dramas as they tend to not portray an accurate description of real life.

Personal identityPeople may use media to reassure their status and gain personal credibility. Particular individuals watch TV to assure them that they have a status in society and to help find themselves. E.g. an individual watching an advertisement on T.V having an interest in the item and purchasing it, the media had a direct influence on their lives.

R E C EP T I O N T H E O R YThis theory is also passive, the theory argues that producers or directors of media texts construct a hidden message or meaning that they want to convey across to the audience within their text. If this is done correctly the audience will pick up and identify the hidden meaning or message very quickly, but the audience will need to be reminded of the message consistently throughout the film so they do not forgot about it. Stuart Hall identified three types of audience reading messages…

Dominant: What the audience wants to hear from people and agreeing with it, but with limited knowledge on what is being discussed or happening.

Negotiated: When the audience agrees, disagrees or questions a news broadcast or political speech due to previously held news.Oppositional: When the audience recognises the Dominant message but rejects it due to their culture, lifestyle or political opinion, when the audience is in this oppositional state the producer or director are unable to get any message across to them, as they have already made up their mind on a person or subject.

Videos on each audience theoryHypodermic needle model: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-

toj0weAEMTwo step flow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFpBLeOHfxsUses and gratifications: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=Vn9_0mTfT3YReception theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJd1rkDoURA

Referenceshttp://mediablogs.keshacademy.com/

btoolea2/2013/10/09/audience-theories/http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/

alevkeyconcepts/alevelkeycon.php?pageID=audiencehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audience_theoryhttps://www.youtube.com/user/mediagabbitt