In the early 20th century, a new and distinctive concept of the audience rose to prominence. The audience was seen as a mass -- a large collection of people mostly unknown to one another -- that was unified through exposure to media. This construct offered a pragmatic way to map audiences that was relevant to industry, government, and social theorists. In a relatively short period of time, it became the dominant model for studying the audience. Today, it is so pervasive that most people simply take it for granted. Recently, media scholars have reopened inquiry into the meaning of "audience." They question the utility of the mass audience concept, characterizing it as insensitive to differences among audience members inescapably bound up with discredited notions of mass society, or serving only a narrow set of industrial interests. The authors of this volume find that these assertions are often false and unwarranted either by the historical record or by contemporary industry practice. Instead, they argue for a rediscovery of the dominant model by summarizing and critiquing the very considerable body of literature on audience behavior, and by demonstrating different ways of analyzing mass audiences. Further, they provide a framework for understanding the future of the audience in the new media environment, and suggest how the concept of mass audience can illuminate research on media effects, cultural studies, and media policy.
Annotation Napoli examines the ongoing redefinition of the industry-audience relationship by technologies that have moved the audience marketplace beyond traditional metrics.
The word audience has long been familiar as the collective term for the "receivers" in the model of mass communication process (source, channel, message, receiver, effect). It is a term that is understood by media practitioners and theorists alike and has entered into everyday usage; however, there is much room for differences of meaning, misunderstandings, and theoretical conflicts. In Audience Analysis, author Denis McQuail provides a coherent and succinct account of the concept "media audience" in terms of its history and its place in present-day media theory and research. He describes and explains the main types of audience, alternative theories about the audience, and the main traditions and fields of audience research. This informative volume explains the contrast between social scientific and humanistic approaches and gives due weight to the view "from the audience," as well as the view "from the media." It summarizes key research findings and assesses the impact of new media developments, especially transnationalization and new interactive technology. Finally, the volume concludes with an evaluation of the continued relevance of the audience concept under conditions of rapid media change. Providing both an overview of past research and a guide to current thinking, Audience Analysis will be enlightening to academics and students in the fields of mass communication and media studies.
“a simple yet excellent overview of the multilayered path of audience research, tracing its evolution over the last century…” European Journal of Communication *How has the concept of 'the audience' changed over the past 50 years? *How do audiences become producers and not just consumers of media texts? *How are new media affecting the ways in which audiences are researched? The audience has been a central concept in both in media and cultural studies for some considerable time, not least because there seems little point exploring forms of increasingly global communication in terms of their content if the targets of media messages are not also the focus of study. This book ranges across a wide literature, taking both a chronological as well as thematic approach, in order to explore the ways in which the audience, as an analytical concept has changed, as well as examining the relationships which audiences have with texts and the ways in which they exert their power as consumers. We also look at the political economy of audiences and the ways in which they are 'delivered' to advertisers as well as attending to the ratings war being waged by broadcasters and the development of narrowcasting and niche audiences. Finally, the book looks ahead to the future of audience research, suggesting that new genres such as 'reality TV' and new ICTs such as the internet, are already revolutionising the way in which research with audiences is taking place in the 21st century, not least because of the level of interactivity enabled by new media.
This handbook surveys the history, organization, role, major issues, and future outlook for different segments of the mass media industry and for its various audiences in the United States. Following a brief introductory overview, experts offer broad perspectives through analyses of the advertising, book, cable, film, magazine, newspaper, public relations, radio, recording, and television industries and of present views about their audiences of minorities, women, children, the disabled, religious groups, and sports enthusiasts. Each chapter reviews and synthesizes the important literature today, current policies and problems, the responsibility and effectiveness of the sector or group under study, and trends in the 1990s and to the year 2000. Bibliographies defining important readings as well as regular sources of information add to the usefulness of this handbook for college, university, institutional, and public libraries. Each chapter on a different sector or audience reviews and synthesizes the important literature to date, discusses current responsibilities, evaluates the sector's effectiveness or weaknesses, audience concerns, and advises about trends and future developments. Bibliographies point to important readings for future research and comment on regular sources of information for further study. The handbook is designed for college students, researchers in mass media, and public library audiences.
Ed Shane here traces a change in the American pervasive mass media that once disseminated information quickly and stimulated mass cultural response, to a de-massified individual media that incubate a new electronic narcissicism, producing an inwardly-focused society.