Audience theories

Introduction to audience
theories
There are four media theories that I will explore
that are based around the impact the media has
upon a target audience. These are Passive
audiences, the hypodermic model, active
audiences and the uses and gratifications
model.

Passive audiences
The first idea is that a mass audience are either
passive or inactive. The target audience are
seen as couch potatoes absorbing the media
text. This commonly applies to commercial
television programs. It was originally thought
that this didnt require active use of the brain
when watching the media source. The passive
audience theory is overall the ideology that the
audience believe anything they see within the
media.

Hypodermic model theory

The hypodermic model theory is the idea that
the target audience are vulnerable and take
influence from the powerful ideas within the
media injected into them. It also suggests the
audience may act upon what they see. For
example Nazis used this in the lead up towards
WW2 to promote their selves are inject their
rules into the audience.

Active audiences
The active audience theory is the new idea that
audiences interact with what the media is
showing them, and avoids portraying them as
couch potatoes. This is considered to be a more
realistic way to talk about audiences but it
subverts against the passive audience theory.

Uses and gratifications

model
The uses and gratification model originates from
the idea that the target audience vary and are a
complex group of individuals who select media
texts that best suit their needs.