Audience Activity Model

Abstract

Audiences play an active role in media selection and exposure. This statement is at the foundation of much research exploring how audiences navigate and respond to media messages. Yet, there is nothing new about audience activity. The relationship between media and what audiences do with them has been the focus of research dating back to the 1970s and the advent of the uses and gratifications approach. One tenet of uses and gratifications is that audience activity is a more powerful condition of media exposure and effects than media content itself. But what does activity mean? How do audiences demonstrate their activity? Is this modern media environment an ideal setting for models of audience activity? To address these questions, several models of audience activity are reviewed, with a specific eye toward explaining how activity is conceptualized and measured, and discussing how these models are altered to better fit today's media environment.