AUDIENCE

THEORY
A LEVEL MEDIA STUDIES

MOST AUDIENCE THEORY FOCUSES

ON TWO QUESTIONS..
How powerful are the media in
influencing the ideas and behaviour of
the audience?
And
How does the media shape an
audiences perception of the world?
Audience theories suggest that
representations are open to different
interpretations and that their meanings
are not fixed.

CONSUMPTION OF MEDIA
There are different ways of consuming media texts
Primary media
(texts demand close and concentrated attention from audience, eg.
Films in cinemas)
Secondary media
(texts provide a background for an audience who are often doing
something else at the same time and are distracted, eg. Radio and
some TV programmes)
Tertiary media
(texts that are consumed by audiences who are almost unaware of
their own engagement with the media, eg. Advertising or radio
stations broadcasting in shops)

Stresses power
of AUDIENCE
over media
producers

Audience
research
and pretesting

MarketLiberalism
Perspective

Audience preference
decides what media
texts are produced

Stresses the power

of PRODUCERS
over media
audiences

PoliticalEconomy
Perspective

Media is
produced
to appeal
to
advertisers

The power of media

organisations are open
to abuse - promoting
political parties etc

Information is
unmediated
HYPODERMIC
NEEDLE MODEL
TWO STEP FLOW
MODEL
Dating
from 1920s

Passive audience

Stuart Halls
Encoding/Decoding
model

Texts have
preferred
meaning

Also
called the
limited
effects
paradigm

Social effects are

important in the way
audiences consume
texts

RECEPTION THEORY

Blumler and
Katz 1974
USES AND
GRATIFICATIONS
THEORY

Audiences consume texts for different

reasons and in different ways

PASSIVE AUDIENCES
Effects Theory
Some commentators see the media as a sinister and insidious
force.
The Frankfurt School (Adorno and Horkheimer) a group of
Marxist intellectuals developed a critique of the mass media after
expressing horror at the success of Nazi Germany propaganda.
They argued the media had considerable power over the
behaviour and beliefs of the audience.
The passive audience soak up the empty promises of mass
entertainment, becoming willing victims who both produce and
consume the products of consumer capitalism.
The audience are powerless to resist the effects of media
messages.

THE TWO STEP FLOW MODEL

Katz and Lazarsfeld
Reception in which media messages are mediated by others
opinion leaders.
US presidential campaign 1940
Our opinion can form or develop based on what others have
to say.
Importance of word of mouth

ENCODING/DECODING
Stuart Hall drew upon the Gramscian hegemony theory in
developing the encoding/decoding model.
He wanted to focus on how dominant ideological messages
can be resisted or reinterpreted by audience members.
At the encoding stage, the producers of texts create
messages (codes) which they expect their viewers/readers to
understand.
When the audience come in contact with the text, we decode
the messages to create meaning.
Fundamentally, media messages are POLYSEMIC they
contain numerous possible interpretations.
However, we can be steered towards a preferred reading of a
text.

Stuart
Hall
Preferred,
Negotiated
and
Oppositional
readings of
media texts

For
example

McDonalds want you to think....

You may agree

Or.....
You may disagree

Or.....
You may think that big macs do taste
good, but Ill only have them every
now and again

So here we have three separate

readings of that one advert

In 1980 David Morley did a

study of audience
responses when watching
the BBC TV show Spotlight.
As a result of his research,
he decided that audiences
tend to fall into three
groups based on their
interpretation of the text.....
Preferred Reading
Negotiated Reading

Oppositional Rea

The preferred
reading is the
reading media
producers hope
audiences will
take from the
text.

Audience members
from outside the
target audience may
reject the preferred
reading,
receiving their own
alternative message.

Negotiated reading is
when audiences
acknowledge the
preferred reading, but
modify it to
suit their own values
and opinions.

What is the
PREFERRED
reading?
The
NEGOCIATED
reading?
The
OPPOSITIONAL
reading?

ACTIVE AUDIENCES
The Uses and Gratifications Theory
The audience has a set of needs (Blumler and Katz 1975)
Diversion
Integration & Social Interaction
Personal identity
Surveillance/Information
We use the media to gratify our needs.
We actively seek out media products that we really want.
Links with liberal-pluralist perspectives (consumers hold the
power over producers)

Coronation Street viewers are

individuals who are motivated by
different impulses
A need for
company

To combat
loneliness
allows audience to
perceive
themselves to be
part of an
IMAGINED
COMMUNITY

Relaxation

The need
to be part
of a
group

The need for

structure and order
offers a
reassuring routine

The need to
identify with
characters
and
scenarios

USES AND GRATIFICATIONS

1) SURVEILLANCE/INFORMATION
We want to find out about society and the world.

2) INTEGRATION & SOCIAL INTERACTION

Companionship through identification with
television characters
We want to find out more about the
circumstances of other people so we can
empathise/sympathise with the lives of others.
Sociability through discussion about television
with other people.

USES AND GRATIFICATIONS

3) PERSONAL IDENTITY
Finding reinforcement for personal values.
Identifying with a valued other in the media.
Gaining insight into ones self.

GRATIFICATION
4) DIVERSION
We use the media for enjoyment, relaxation or just to fill time.

NEW MEDIA THE INTERNET

UTOPIAN

The internet user is

savvy, well informed
and creative
Distinctions between
production and
reception are blurred
Online communities
allow audiences to
interact with each
other and producers
Active

DYSTOPIAN

Studies of internet users have

shown an unequal distribution in
terms of gender, age, ethnicity
and social class.
There are increasing levels of
corporate domination big
companies exploit the potential
for making money from users.
Levels of control and
surveillance inhibit the autonomy
and creativity once associated
with the internet.

WHY DO AUDIENCES WATCH

MUSIC VIDEOS?