01 - What is Audience?

Question 1

What is an audience?

Answer 1

A group of people who participate or encounter media texts.

Question 2

What are other terms that can be used to refer to audience?

Answer 2

Readers, viewers, users, listeners, players, consumers, participants.

Question 3

Name five types of audience.

Answer 3

Immediate
Mediated
Ideal (Target)
Mass
Niche

Question 4

What is an immediate audience?

Answer 4

This type of audience directly listens to, engages with, and consumes the text in an unmediated fashion (i.e. they share the same space without a media channel in between sender and receiver)

To measure immediate audience reception and feedback:
applause, laughing
verbal comments, made during and after.

Question 5

What is a mediated audience?

Answer 5

Experience texts through media technology i.e. television, radio, and Internet.

The technology separates the text and the audience. (audience may be displaced by space and time.)

To measure reception and feedback:
Opinion Polls, Ratings, Focus Groups
Online Comments and Forums.

Question 6

What is an ideal (target) audience?

Answer 6

These are theoretical audience groups, the ‘perfect’ audience for a media text.

Constructed by the media producers and/or marketing executives so that they can target their text at a specific group of people.

Should be formulated through in-depth research and measurement.

Question 7

What is a mass audience?

Answer 7

Large audiences of mass media texts (such as BBC audiences and newspaper audiences).

Wide target audience groups.

Question 8

What is a niche audience?

Answer 8

Smaller audiences for more specialised media texts (such as BabyTV)

Narrow target audience groups

Question 9

The type of audience that directly listens to, engages with, and consumes the text in an unmediated fashion is known as what?

Answer 9

An immediate audience.

Question 10

The type of audience that experience texts through media technology i.e. television, radio, and Internet is known as what?

Answer 10

A mediated audience.

Question 11

The ‘perfect’ audience for a media text is known as what?

Answer 11

An ideal (target) audience.

Question 12

Large audiences are known as what?

Answer 12

Mass audiences.

Question 13

Smaller audiences are known as what?

Answer 13

Niche audiences.

Question 14

Name three different types of media texts.

Answer 14

Primary media
Secondary media
Tertiary media

Question 15

What is primary media?

Answer 15

Texts that demand close and concentrated attention from audience.

Question 16

What is secondary media?

Answer 16

Texts that provide a background for an audience who are often doing something else at the same time and are distracted.

Question 17

What is tertiary media?

Answer 17

Texts that are consumed by audiences who are almost unaware of their own engagement with the media.

Question 18

Texts that demand close and concentrated attention from audience are classed as what type of media?

Answer 18

Primary.

Question 19

Texts that provide a background for an audience who are often doing something else at the same time and are distracted are classed as what type of media?

Answer 19

Secondary.

Question 20

Texts that are consumed by audiences who are almost unaware of their own engagement with the media are classed as what type of media?

Answer 20

Tertiary.