Course

Course Outline

The study of media audiences is key to understanding contemporary media environments. Media audiences refer to categories of viewers, listeners, readers and users of television, radio, print media, mobile and web. There have been several approaches to understanding media audiences. These approaches have drawn on ideas of the audience as passive, and therefore liable to be influenced by the media, and also active, and therefore capable of different, complex responses to the media.

Audiences have evolved from viewers to consumers, producers, participants and performers. Audience studies needs to look beyond text, or genre, to understand in more coherent ways how to research the connections between changes in media and cultural industries and changes in our media experiences.

The course is structured in relation to core components of audience studies concerning history and media audiences, quantitative and qualitative audience research, media industries and audiences, fans and anti-fans, and transforming audiences, producers, consumers and users. These five areas of enquiry offer a comprehensive analysis of audiences within media and communication industry and academic research. For example, we analyse global formats as widening points of consumption, immersion and interaction within contemporary media industries. The overall aim of this course is to evaluate the significance of empirical and theoretical audience studies for international media and communication research.

Teaching and Assessment

The teaching consists of lectures, seminars and workshops that all students are expected to attend. Seminars involve group work related to the course literature. In these seminars the students are expected to present a synthesis and analysis of selected media audience research studied during the course. Workshops involve practical aspects of using audience research to critically analyse the theories and practices for conceptual and empirical understanding of audiences within Media and Communication Studies. Assessment is based on the following: 

• a written essay related to the key literature and empirical cases as studied during the course. The essay should be between 5000-6000 words.
• an oral presentation based on course literature for seminars.
• group based practical assignments for seminars and workshops.
• active participation in the lectures, seminars and workshops.