The AUDIENCE in MASS MEDIA

The origins of the present-day audience for mass media are presumably to be found in the public theatrical and musical performances as well as games and spectacles of ancient times. These audiences had their own customs, expectations and rules about the time, place and content of performances, conditions for entry etc.

Several features distinguish the early form of audience from the modern media equivalent Most importantly, the original audience was localized in one place and time – they were occupants of the auditorium, the space in which they could hear and see what was going on। The performance was always ‘live’ and open to view. This suggests that the audience was always relatively small and also potentially active within itself and interactive with the performers. The same circumstances are relevant in some situations even now, but a new variant has been introduced in the mass media audience.

The new type of mass audience was
i) large and widely dispersed;
ii) its members could not know each other;
iii) its composition was always shifting;
iv) it lacked any sense of self-identity, because of its size and heterogenity;
v) it was governed by no rules
vi) it appeared not to act for itself but to be acted on from outside
vii) and just as its own internal relations were impersonal, so were the relations between any source and the mass audience also necessarily impersonal. There is also often a large social distance between the mass media audience and a more powerful, expert or prestigious source and thus an asymmetric
relationship.

The four types of audiences can be characterized as follows with indications of further subdivisions within each main category. These categories as follows, are not, of course, mutually exclusive, and the primary character of a given audience is not easy to determine empirically. The assessment has to be made on the basis of wider knowledge of a media system and a society.

The four types of audiences are to be differentiated in the groups that are given –

The Social group: Basically this will correspond with an existing social grouping (such as community or membership of a political, religious or ethnic minority for example -Shalom,Aastha, JAINTV ) and with the shared social characteristics of place, social class, politics, culture etc. Such audiences are likely to be more stable over time than others, with continuity of membership, and are likely to respond actively to what their chosen media provide.

The Gratification set: This forms on the basis of some individual purpose or need existing independently of the media, relating, for instance, to a political or social issue or a general need for information or for some emotional, effectual satisfaction. It is likely to be fairly homogenous in terms of its composition, active in expressing demands that shape supply and also selective. Such audiences are, however, not social groups but aggregates of individuals engaged in essentially the same consumer behaviour.

Fan group or Taste culture: This kind of audience will be formed on the basis of an interest in a particular author, director or type of content (or genre), or through attraction to a particular personality (or a particular cultural or intellectual taste)। Otherwise, it lacks any clear social definition or categorization. Its composition will change over time, although some such audiences may also be stable. Its existence is owed entirely to the content offered, and when this changes (as, for instance at the end of a long-running show or the death or decline of a star) the audience has to disperse or reform in other ways. Occasionally such kinds of audience has to disperse or reform in other ways. ‘Fandom’ demonstrates the productive power of audiences, creating new and deeper meaning from the materials made available, rather than successful manipulation. Attempts at exploitation are common and often associated with merchandising of products linked to media images, characters, themes.( KTV,Rosebowl, MTV etc) .

Channel or Medium audience: Recruited to and held by habit or loyalty to a particular media source –e.g newspaper, magazine or radio or TV channel –such audiences are numerous and changing. Often they are encouraged to form by the media for commercial reasons. Members are typically consumers of the media product in question and customers for other products to be advertised or merchandised.