KCS 603:
AUDIENCE STUDIES
SILAS ORIASO
Lecturer, Researcher and
Communication Consultant.
Introduction
• This course examines the various perspectives
in Audience Studies and exposes the students
to various paradigms in cultural studies such
as two-step flow; uses and gratifications
research; theories of personal influence and
cultivation analysis.
• Students rethink theories of media influence
and interrogate issues around the role of mass
media in the social construction of reality.
Purpose
• This course aims to impart to the students the
theoretical knowledge regarding Audience
Studies.
• It will increase the understanding of the
students about the role of audience in a
communication process or structure.
Course Objectives
• At the end of this Course students should:
1. Describe the place of Audience in comm.
2. Describe the various typologies of Audience
3. Describe the social Attributes of Audience
4. Describe theories of Audience composition
5. Describe Message Reception in audience
6. Describe the Relationship between the
Audience and the Communicator
Course Objectives
• Describe critically the various media effects on
audiences
• Explain the role of media in the construction
of social reality
• Explain the concepts of two-step and multistep flow of communication
• Explain the theories of personal influence
Mode of Instruction
• These will include lectures at the initial level;
class discussions; group discussions and class
presentations by the various groups assigned
by the course lecturer.
Grading system
The entire course will be graded out of 100%
• Main Exam – 60%
Grading System
• Group presentation – 20%
• Term paper - 10%
• Midterm - 10%
References
1. McQuail, Denis. Mass Communication Theory
(2nd Ed: 2005).
2. Tan S. Alexis. Mass Communication Theories
and Research)2nd Ed: 1985)
3. Schramm Wilbur. `How Communication
Works’in W. Schramm(Ed). The Process and
Effects of Mass Communication. (Urbana:
University of Illinois Press, 1977)
Contn’
4. Bandura,A. Social Learning Theory, Englewood
Cliffs, New York 1977
5. Severin and Tankard. Communication Theory.
6. A host of material is available in ACCE Library
and JKML as well as in the Internet specific to
the discipline of Communication.
The Place of Audience in the
Communication Process
• Communication is the exchange of ideas and
information between the source and the
audience.
• Based on this definition Communication is a
transaction of: 1) people and people and 2)
people and machines. Check this model:
The S-R Communication Model
Source Message Receiver
Feedback
Cont’n
• The Transactional Model is important since it
emphasizes communication as a process that
starts from the source to the receiver and vice
versa (in reversal of roles).
• The source is engaged in psycholinguistic
encoding while the receivers decode the
message and pass feedback.
Elements of Communication
1. Source-is the initiator of a communication act
Cont’n
2. Message- content or the subject of comm.
3. Medium-channel of communication
4. Receiver- target of comm. In our case the
audience is engaged in message decoding
5. Feedback- info. returned to sender which is
done into ways:
i. Intra-personal-from and to within oneself;
and
Cont’n
ii. Interpersonal
6. Noise-anything that inhibits comm. It can be
source, channel or receiver noise.
7. Purpose-comm. is purposive.
• When people communicate, they have some
objective to achieve.
• They communicate to inform, persuade,
mobilize or rally people around an issue
8. Effects-Comm. has impact or consequences on
people
Cont’n
• Communication has different impacts on
people. Why is it so? What are some of the
consequences of comm. on people?
• There are three impacts of communication
campaigns on people:
a. Increase in knowledge
b. Change in attitude
c. Change in behavior.
9. Common field of experience
Summary
• When we study the receiver, our interest is:
1. How the audience receives messages;
2. How media affects audiences;
3. How the audience affects the media;
Definitions of the concept Audience
• Audience is the target of communication.
• Various definitions depend on model used
• McQuail (2005)defines audience as a social
group. It does not just exist but formed by
two forces:
Definitions
1. Response to media, channel or contentparticular preference in terms of these three
2. Certain social factors
Examples of Audience
• A favorite author-the readership is an
audience
• A favorite program
• Favorite video shows
The Rise of Audience
• The term `audience’ originally used to refer to
spectators in drama and games.
• It was borrowed from the Greco-Roman
tradition where the monarchs organized
drama and games for spectators.
Characteristics of Pre-Media Audience
1. Localized in one place and time
2. Got messages through direct verbal address
or allocutory mode of comm.
The Rise of Audience
• There were no PA systems either.
3. Audience were subject to control by authority
4. Sitting arrangement was based on status and
rank
5. Audience was public
6. Audience met in open-air gatherings
Characteristics of Today’s Audience
1. Not localized, very dispersed, eg: Hague
proceedings; Obama’s swearing; Prince’s
wedding beamed across the world.
The Rise of Audience
2. Get messages through diverse media-or
mediated communication.
3. Audience are more free from control by
authority
4. Sitting arrangement based on financial ability
or status quo in certain circumstances.
5. Audience may be public and private at the
same time.
Reasons for the Change in
Audience Characteristics
• Changes in communication technology which
has been changing since the 14th Century
• Changes in society
Summary
1. Audience has been delocalized due a number
of factors
2. Audience is less time-bound, e.g.; one can
record a program running in absentia using
advanced ICT devices like VCR
Cont’n
3. Audience are diversified by:
Taste
Education
Ethnicity
 Religion, etc.
Factors for Audience Delocalization
• Invention of the printing press- led to the
nurture of reading culture.
• Commercialization of communication where
Information is a commodity and
communication is a business venture.
• The growth of electronic media which
fragmented the audience.
• Convergence of media
Alternative Concepts of Audience
• McQuail offers the following alternative ways
of defining audiences:
i. Audience as an aggregate of spectators
ii. Audience as mass of people
iii. Audience as a public or social group
iv. Audience as a market to be exploited
1) Audience as an aggregate
• This refers to the total number of people
reached by media or are exposed to content
Cont’n
• Aggregate audience exhibit some
demographic or psychographic attributes of
characteristics of interests to the sources.
• They are listeners, viewers or readers
matching the profiles of interest to advertisers
in case of the mass media.
• There are three categories of the audience as
an aggregate:-
Cont’n
1. Whole population in media coverage area
(e.g. TV owners). Coverage here refers to the
geographical area where the frequencies of a
particular medium reach or are sold.
2. Potential public i.e. actual receivers of the
messages
3. Effective public: those who internalize the
message. They are difficult to quantify and
calls for basic audience research. This is the
public is the advertisers are interested in.
2. Audience As a Mass
• The term `mass’ has both positive and
negative connotations.
• In the negative sense, mass refers to a mob:
which is unruly and ignorant; lack in both
intelligence and rationality.
• In the positive sense, mass connotes strength
and solidarity of workers. In mass media, it
refers to a large audience reached by the
media- a multitude of millions that can be
reached instantaneously.
Characteristics of Mass Audience
• Large size
• Dispersed
• Heterogeneous-different traits and attributes
• Anonymous
1. Lack self awareness
2. Lack identity
• Lack social organization
‘cont’n
1. No ability for self-organization
2. Is instead acted upon
• Has inconsistent composition and subservient
to change in nature.
Criticisms of Audience as a Mass
• Critics claim there is nothing like mass
audience
• No audience exists as a mass
• What is your position on this? Why?
3) The Audience as a Public or
Social Group
• A public is a group with a common interest or
bond. The public was originally seen as
political groupings of people with common
problems seeking common solutions.
Types of publics
 Elite Public- informed, mould opinion, hooked
to special press or media
 Party membership- members of a party
hooked to a party medium
Cont’n
 Community Public- audience of a local
medium(community radio is one of the
community media with members of
community as the audience. Example include
Osienala for fishing folks and Mangelette in
Machakos, Gulf in Kendu Bay.
 Issue-Oriented Public- coming together to
champion a particular cause or issue.
4) Audiences as a Market
• The concept arose from economic
development which envisioned the market as
potential consumers of media products.
• Market may also refer to: 1) a specific
population in an area; 2)an aggregate of the
population such as farmers.
• The market is seen in terms of their
purchasing power and strategic importance to
advertisers; and the primary targets are
usually working women and people with
disposable income.