Use this to help you revise key audience theories for your exam work.

1. AUDIENCE CONSUMPTION
THEORIES
Thinking on the relationship between
media products and the audience that

2. Module Objectives
 By the end of this subject module you should
be able to:
 Identify the difference between passive and active
spectatorship
 Explain the key features of the hypodermic
needle and uses and gratifications models
 Explain what pleasures an audience may gain
from consuming media texts

3. Audience Consumption
Theories
 When considering the effect that media can
have on an audience we need to consider how
it is consumed.
 Theories have been developed about an
audiences relationship with the media and
they fall into two distinct categories.
 Those that believe the audience is passive
 Those that believe that the audience plays an
active role in the process

4. Passive or Active Consumption /
Spectatorship
Passive Consumers -
An audience who are fed media
content and accept it at face
value without question.
They absorb information and
entertainment content, but also
any other messages
(promotional, political,
persuasive) that it may concern
Active Consumers -
An audience who consume media selectively and question what is
provided to them. They may choose what to consume and then use
it for a number of different purposes, being influenced mildly by
messages within the content.

5. Passive Audience Theories
 These theories are based on the notion that
audiences consume media and are directly effected
by the content
 They are often backed up by examples of how
media products have been seen to influence human
behaviour
 They originated from liberal Marxist theories (left-
wing perspectives) in the 1930’s who were
concerned about the influence and power of media
products
 More recently associated with a more conservative
perspective and favoured by those who wish to see

6. Hypodermic Needle Theory
The Audience
Media
Content
The idea is that the
content produced by the
media is forced into the
minds of the audience
In this model the
audience is seen as
passive = those following
this theory believe the
audience accepts,
unquestioning what is
given to them

7. Hypodermic Needle Theory
 Also known as the ‘Magic Bullet’ Theory
 Based on the notion that the media holds great power
and influence over its audience
 The idea is based on the notion that media content is
‘injected’ as if from a syringe into the mind of the
audience
 Assumes an audience is passive
 Theory puts forward therefore that the bias or opinion
contained within the content will also be absorbed and
taken on board by the audience.

8. War of the Worlds (1938)
 October 30, 1938 - Orson Welles
and the newly formed Mercury
Theater group broadcasted their
radio edition of H.G. Wells' "War
of the Worlds."
 Included a fake ‘news bulletin’ interrupting the programme
warning of a martian invasion
 The "Panic Broadcast” - 1 million of those who heard it
actually believed that a serious alien invasion was underway.
 Mass hysteria - people fled their city homes, raided grocery
stores and began to ration food. The nation was in a state of
chaos.

9. War of the Worlds (1938)
 Demonstrated Hypodermic
Needle Theory = by injecting
the message directly into the
"bloodstream" of the public,
attempting to create a uniform
thinking.
 It suggested that the media
could manipulate a passive and
gullible public
 Lead theorists to believe this
was one of the primary ways
media authors shaped
audience perception.

10. Hypodermic Needle Theory
 How would supporters of the Hypodermic
Needle Theory react to the notion that watching
violent content on television makes children
themselves aggressive?

11. Moral Panics
 Moral Panic = an intense feeling expressed
in a population about and issue that
appears to threaten our accepted social
beliefs or practices.
 We’ve looked at a range of different case
studies about moral panics
 Passive Audience Theorists would cite such
cases as the ‘copycat’ crimes associated with
A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971) as
evidence of an audience being influenced by
media texts.

12. The Two-Step Flow
 Hypodermic Needle model seen as quite clumsy
 Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudet (1941) analysed
results from the 1940 presidential election and how
information was absorbed by voters
 They suggested a two-step process where information
doesn’t flow straight into an audience’s mind but is
filtered through ‘opinion leaders’ who communicate it to
those they have influence over.
 Opinion leaders = specialists, celebrities, community
leaders, respected figures in a community, those in
management or leadership positions

13. The Two-Step Flow Model
Media Content
Messages and Meanings
Wider Audience
Opinion Leaders
Opportunity for
influence /
interpretation /
prejudice
RESULT
Social factors are
also important in
the way that
audiences
interpret texts

14. Passive Audience Theory - Criticism
 Assumes that an audience has no control
 Ignoring control to avoid or choose
 Treats the audience as one mass of people
rather than considering them as individuals
 Dismissive and makes a value judgement
about the intellect and ability of an audience
 Why don’t they affect ALL of an audience if
true?

15. Passive Audience Theory - Criticism
 It doesn’t take into account the idea of different
readings of media texts by different people
 CASE STUDY:
 Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer reported that before every
one of his murders he watched a clip from his favourite
film in order to work up his excitement. This might be
seen to prove the hypodermic needle theory, but the
film he watched was Star Wars (Lucas, 1977) and the
on-screen content had no direct link to the violent acts
he went on to perpetrate.
 Dahmer clearly ‘read’ meaning in this text very
differently to how others may.

16. Active Audience Theories
 Thinks of the audience as individual people
 Based on the premise that people utilise and
select media content and its messages
 The individual has the power

17. Uses and Gratifications
 Places more focus on the consumer, or
audience, instead of the media content itself
 It asks “what do people do with media” rather
than “what does media does to people”
 Suggested a range of ways that people USE
the media and get GRATIFICATION (or
satisfaction) within their lives

18. Uses and Gratifications
Media Content
Made colourful and tempting
The Audience
Selecting and choosing
what to consume and
how to consume and
use it
An active,
selective
audience

19. Uses and Gratifications
• Suggests that humans use media as a tool in their
lives to help with the following:
 Cognitive needs — Acquiring information, knowledge and
understanding.
 Affective needs — Providing stimulus of emotion,
pleasure, feelings
 Personal integrative needs — Providing a way to assess
their credibility and status within society
 Social integrative needs — Relating to their family and
friends.
 Tension release needs —Escape and diversion from
problems, the catharsis of the discussion of problems

20. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Maslow (1943) identified key needs that all humans
need to have met in order to be happy, healthy,
productive individuals.
• How can
media products
can help meet
these needs?

21. Uses and Gratifications – Audience
Needs
 The Uses and Gratifications model identifies there are
key needs that an audience has that media products can
fulfil:
 Cognitive needs — Acquiring information, knowledge and
understanding.
 Affective needs — Providing stimulus of emotion, pleasure,
feelings
 Personal integrative needs — Providing a way to assess
their credibility and status within society
 Social integrative needs — Relating to their family and
friends.
 Tension release needs —Escape and diversion from
problems, the catharsis of the discussion of problems

22. ‘Water-cooler Television’
 ‘Event’ television or things
people are keen to talk about
the next day
 Water-Cooler – common
place for people to gossip or
chat at work
 Soap Opera plots
 Big event quiz shows
 One-off dramas

23. Water Cooler Television Activity
 A soap opera has recently aired a storyline that involved
key characters going through the process of adopting a
child.
 How might those discussing this around the water cooler
the next day find this is useful to the following needs
identified by the Uses and Gratifications theory?
 Cognitive needs — Acquiring information, knowledge and
understanding.
 Affective needs — Providing stimulus of emotion, pleasure,
feelings
 Social integrative needs — Relating to their family and friends.
 Tension release needs — Escape and diversion from problems,
the catharsis of the discussion of problems

24. Uses and Gratifications
 How does the concept of Water-Cooler
television relate to the Uses and Gratifications
theory? Soap Opera Plot about Adoption
Discussion at Water CoolerCognitive -
Information about
adoption
process, how to
access
help, how others
experience this
Social Integration
- Understand own
family make-up
and any adoption
in own experience
Affective - Experiencing
the emotional reactions of
actors, evoking own
emotional response
in empathy
Tension Release - diversion from own
problems and release from own
issues, cathartic process of opening
debate within social group /
processing issues through watching
the actions of others

25. Uses and Gratifications
What Uses and Gratifications
might a family get from
viewing Saturday night
television?
Think about the following
needs:
Cognitive
Affective
Personal integrative
Social integrative
Tension release

26. Audience Pleasure
 How do audiences find pleasure in media texts
such as TV programmes or films?
 Complete the table on the next slide for
yourself, identifying how you use different
media texts in your everyday life
 Think about what you consider when choosing
something to watch
 Consider when and why you consume TV or Film
products – your mood, who you are with,
boredom, to learn something new etc.

27. Audience Pleasure Task
Product How often do I
consume this?
Why do I
consume this?
Does anyone
else I know
consume this?
Which of the
audience ‘needs’
we have
discussed are
being met by
this?
Online news
Serial TV
Drama
Television
Advert
Magazine
Quiz Show
Fiction Film

28. Uses and Gratifications Criticism
 Media influence is well proven – not just in
the War of The Worlds Case but in cases
such as the James Bulger murder
 People may select what they consume to a
degree but mass consumerism is still
prevalent suggesting that people are swayed

29. Case Study Presentations
 In your group, look at the case study you have
been given and discuss the questions at the
bottom of the sheet
 Be prepared to feedback to the group on what
the case study demonstrated and your
thoughts on the questions posed.

30. Audience Readings of Texts
 Focus on how an audience interprets or ‘reads’
a media text and embraces the idea that this
may be different within an audience group
 Every audience member’s own personal
context will impact on the meaning we find in a
text

31. Audience Readings
 David Morley (1980) studied audience
responses to a programme called Nationwide.
He found they fell into some distinct groups,
based on their readings of this text
 He looked carefully at how audiences ‘read’ or
take meaning from media texts and concluded
that there were three main ways that
audiences did this
 Preferred / Dominant Reading
 Oppositional Reading
 Negotiated Reading

32. Preferred / Dominant Reading
 The preferred reading is the reading that the
media producers hope an audience will take
from the text
 The preferred reading of a McDonald’s advert,
for example, makes an audience member
hungry and crave the advertised foods
 This group would be expected to have a
reaction to the content provided eg. salivating
or recalling taste memories when seeing a
burger advertised
 If the majority of the audience act this way

33. Oppositional Reading
 Audience members from outside the target
audience or may have their own experiences
or opinions that mean they reject the preferred
reading, receiving their own alternative
message in an oppositional reading.
 A vegan, for example, may react to the
McDonald’s advert with frustration and
annoyance.
 This group would be expected to have a
reaction to the content provided that opposes
the expectations of the text’s creators.

34. Negotiated Reading
 In a negotiated reading, the audience
acknowledges the preferred reading, but
modifies it to suit their own values and
opinions.
 In the case of a McDonald’s advert, the
negotiated reading may lead to an awareness
of the products on sale but also an acceptance
that they would only buy a burger once in a
while as a treat.
 This group would be expected to have a
reaction to the content provided but be able to

35. Applying Theories
 You should always consider how people who
may follow different theories would interpret and
analyse media content.
 By doing this we gain greater understanding of
the ways in which we can interpret media
content and messages
 We can apply theories to media products and
deduce how those theories can be applied.