Audience Vocab

What is an audience?
An individual or collective group of people who read or consume a form of media text.

MAINSTREAM- mass media such as newspapers and magazines which contain high readerships alongside TV and radio which have high views and listener audiences.

NICHE- a much smaller audience with a more unique interest in a specific topic.

PUSH MEDIA- we receive and consume it

PULL MEDIA- decide and access what we want with media

VALUE CHAIN- products are made and distributed to audiences

SOCIAL NETWORK- complex system where producers and consumers are mixed up


AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT- describes how an audience interacts with a media text. Different people react in different ways to the same text.

AUDIENCE EXPECTATIONS- advance ideas they may have. Particularly applies to genre pieces. Producers often play with or deliberately shatter audience expectations.

AUDIENCE IDENTIFICATION- this is the define information (rather than the vague expectations) which an audience brings to a media product.

AUDIENCE PLACEMENT- way audience feels themselves connected to a particular media text, in that they feel it directly expresses their attitude or lifestyle.

AUDIENCE RESEARCH- done at all stages, audience continually monitored, reactions to early visions, pre-release version to a test audience, make requested changes.