Audience

Mass Audience - Encompasses a large demographic

Niche Audience - Targeted on a particular aspect of an individual, e.g - gender. With this, the media can attract a new audience whilst still appealing to regular consumers.

Narrow Casting - Mass audience does not exist. This is commonly used in advertising to identify and target key audience subjects, for example, recommendations based on you previously viewed videos on YouTube, or recommendations for things on Facebook based on your previous 'likes'.

Stuart Hall - Reception Theory

In the 1980s and 90s lots of work was done into the way individuals received a text and interpreted it and how their individual circumstances affected this.



Stuart Hall



This theory is based on Hall's Encoding/Decoding paradigm. This model described the relationship between media producers and their audiences - the text is encoded by the producer and decoded by the reader. There may be differences between two different readings of the same code, which may have been a problem for the producers when it come to creating new texts that appeal to a target audience. Therefore, producers can stick to established codes and conventions, and by drawing upon audience expectations and what appeals to them, the producers can influence the audience and create some agreement on the meaning of the code.

For example, Apple released an iconic advert in which several silhouettes danced to music on their ipod. The producers hope that audiences would interpret that music is fun and that owning an ipod will provide the consumer with elation, perhaps even make them good at dancing or more attractive than they already are. However, the reader may take a different stance on the meaning of the advert, perhaps even were offended or irritated by it.

Preferred reading is the way the producers want the audience to view the text. Oppositional reading is when the audience rejects the preferred reading and creates their own interpretation of the text. Negotiated reading is a compromise between the dominant and opposition readings and agrees in part with the producers, but also creates their own take on the inferred meaning.

Age, gender, race, culture, financial situation and geographical location also have an impact on the audience's interpretation and on the producers' target demographic.

Taking this theory into account, I need to ask myself several questions in relation to my project;

• How am I targeting my audience?
• What kind of demographic are they - mass, niche or narrowcast?
• And how will their different situational factors affect who I target and how they will interpret my text?