What is the media industries’ view of the audience and why do they carry out audience research? Make reference in your answer to the idea of the concept of audiences as Citizens and consumers
summative essay of 3000words. follow instructions, use provided sources, observe quality
Students must use academic referencing and a bibliography in this essay (see the Postgraduate Student Handbook for more information and guidance on Referencing and Academic Honesty). The content includes introduction, main paragraph, case studies (examples), conclusion. I will provide relevant literatures and some information for the essay.
And the most important thing is to use as much literature as possible (almost 20). I will provide a reading list. Select your main readings from the “Reading List”, but also remember to draw on other additional relevant sources as part of your independent study.
Please read carefully the section in your Course Handbook on ‘Plagiarism and Referencing’, and remember that referencing of all source material should conform to the Harvard / APA referencing system. E.G. (In brackets aut hor surname only, year, page) – not endnotes, footnotes, bullet points or author surname followed by initial .
Lecture 10 The Media’s View of the Audience & Audiences as Citizens and Consumers
This lecture will examine the audience from the point of view of the media industries. It will examine why the media wish to carry out audience research and how this differs from the audience research carried out by academics. In particular it will explore the economic imperatives behind media audience research. The lecture will ask questions about audience power and examine this in the light of the audience as ‘produser’.
Key Reading Compulsory reading
1. Toynbee, J. (2006) ‘The Media’s View of The Audience’ in Hesmondhalgh, D Media Production
, Maidenhead Open University Press pp91-132 2. Ang, I (1991) ‘The Revolt of the Viewer’ in Desperately Seeking the Audience , London, Routledge(extract in Toynbee above)
Recommended Reading
3. Smythe, D (1981) ‘On the audience commodity and its work’ in Boyd-Barrett, O and Newbold,
C (eds.) Approaches to Media: A Reader, London, Arnold. 4. Caraway, Brett (2011) ‘Audience Labour in the New Media Environment: A Marxian revisiting of the audience commodity’ Media, Culture and Society 33 (5): 693-708.
Background reading
1. Arvidsson, A and Bonini, T (2015) ‘Valuing Audience Passions: From Smythe to Tarde’
European Journal of Cultural Studies 18 (2) 158-173.
2. Terranova, Titziana (2000) ‘Free Labour: Producing culture for the digital economy’
Social Text 18 (2): 33-58
3. Napoli, P (2003) Audience Economics Media Institutions and The Audience Market Place
, New York, Columbia University Press
4. Hayes, D. (2015) ‘Inside TV’s Secret Lab’ Broadcasting and Cable5/8/15/ Vol 145 issue
19 p4-6
5. Greene, K. (2000) ‘TV’s Test Pilots’ Broadcasting and Cable 07/17/2000 Vol 130 issue
30 p52.
6. Morley, D. (1990) ‘Beyond the Ratings, The Politics of Audience Research’ in Willis, J
and Wollen, T (eds.) The Neglected Audiences London, BFI.
7. Miller, P. (1994) ‘Made to Order and Standardized Audiences: Forms of Reality in
Audience Measurement’ in Ettema, J and Whitney, D. (eds.) Audience Making: How the
Media Create the Audience, Thousand Oaks C.A. Sage
8. ‘Twitter to drive TV ratings beyond an assumption of engagement’ B and T Weekly 04/14 9. Bird, S. E. (2011). Are We All Produsers Now? Cultural Studies, 25(4-5), 502-516.
doi:10.1080/09502386.2011.
Answer preview
Media industries regard their audiences as consumers and citizens, and that is why it carries frequent research about its audiences (Jackson, 2007, p.4). Audience research in the media industry differs from regular academic researches. Numerous research studies have been carried out regarding media research on audiences. Additionally, there are several reasons as to why media industries carry out audience research. Similarly, there are various significances for the media industries to carry out audience research regularly. There are economic imperatives behind audience research by the media industry. Literature analysis is a comparative tool in explaining how the media industries view the audience. The concept of audiences as the consumers and citizens in the media industry is also very vital in unfolding the audience’s power. As a result, this research paper will discuss why media industries carry out audience research and how they view their audiences, displaying examples, and case studies.
3403 words
