Audience Theories

Audience Theories

The Cultivation/Culmination – Any one media text that does not have too much effect, years and years of watching more violence will make you less sensitive to violence. This is a process called desensitisation.

Mass vs Niche – Mass targets larger audience and have a higher budget to prove a film that will accommodate all audiences, niche targets are more specific audiences with a lower budget.

Two step flow – Says that most people form their opinions under the influence of opinion leaders who in turn are influenced by the mass media. Ideas flow from mass media to opinion leaders and from them to a wider population.

Hypodermic Needle theory – Theory that media messages are injected directly into the brain of the passive audience and that everyone responds to media messages in the same way.