Researching Audience Theory

Jonathon Morton

Uses and Gratifications Theory

Uses and Gratifications Theory is an approach to understanding why people actively seek out specific media outlets and content for gratification purposes. The theory discusses how users proactively search for media that will not only meet a given need but enhance knowledge, social interactions and diversion. According to Katz, Blumler and Gurevitchs research there were 5 components comprising the Uses and Gratifications Model: The audience is conceived as active. In the mass communication process much initiative in linking gratification and media choice lies with the audience member. The media compete with our sources of satisfaction. Methodologically speaking, many of the goals of mass media use can be derived from data supplied by individual audience members themselves. Value judgments about the cultural significance of mass communication should be suspended while audience orientations are explored on their own terms.

Dyers Utopian Solutions Theory

Richard Dyer makes a case for entertainment as a utopian sensibility. He says: The notion of entertainment as in some sense utopian expressing ideal about how human life could be organized and lived is implicit in what the most widespread assumption about entertainment, namely, that it provides escape. Entertainment offers the image of something better to set against the realities of day-to-day existence. 3 reasons why audiences choose to consume media: 1. Social tension 2. Inadequacy 3. Absence

Maslows Hierarchy of Needs