Audience Preferences Research Articles

Picturegoer: The Fan Magazine and Popular Film Culture in Britain During The Second World War

‘What agent of Chancellor Hitler is it who has suggested that we should all cower in darkness and terror “for the duration”?’, demanded George Bernard Shaw in a letter to the Times. Published on 5 ...

Britain Finds Andy Hardy: British Cinema Audiences and The American Way of Life in The Second World War

The years 1942 and 1943 saw great concern, on both sides of the Atlantic, about Anglo-American understanding. Almost one million American servicemen were to arrive on British shores by the end of 1...

Inside television audience measurement: Deconstructing the ratings machine

Based on empirical research in France, this article proposes a sociological analysis of television audience measurement (TAM), an operation in which people from various backgrounds (statisticians, engineers, marketing experts) coexist to produce numerical representations of television audiences. These are a major, basic currency in the television industry and, more broadly speaking, in television culture. This analysis departs from prevalent conceptions of ratings as either scientific and therefore faithful representations of audience preferences, or, from a critical perspective, as apparatuses of surveillance and domestication. Focusing on the technology of peoplemeters, it analyzes ratings as the product of a highly complex socio-technical network, which produces robust representations of the audience, accepted by a wide range of social actors.

Strongmen and Straw Men: Authoritarian Regimes and the Initiation of International Conflict

How do domestic institutions affect autocratic leaders' decisions to initiate military conflicts? Contrary to the conventional wisdom, I argue that institutions in some kinds of dictatorships allow regime insiders to hold leaders accountable for their foreign policy decisions. But the preferences of these autocratic domestic audiences vary, with domestic audiences in civilian regimes being more skeptical of using military force than the military officers who form the core constituency in military juntas. In personalist regimes in which there is no effective domestic audience, no predictable mechanism exists for restraining or removing overly belligerent leaders, and leaders tend to be selected for personal characteristics that make them more likely to use military force. I combine these arguments to generate a series of hypotheses about the conflict behavior of autocracies, and test the hypotheses using new measures of authoritarian regime type. The findings indicate that despite the conventional focus on differences between democracies and non-democracies, substantial variation in conflict initiation occurs among authoritarian regimes. Moreover, civilian regimes with powerful elite audiences are no more belligerent overall than democracies. The result is a deeper understanding of the conflict behavior of autocracies, with important implications for scholars as well as policymakers.

From Television to Multi-Platform

/ This article examines economic aspects of convergence and of multi-platform expansion in the media sector. Focusing on television broadcasters in the UK, it analyses the recent migration of conventional media towards multi-platform strategies and asks whether digitization is making content delivery more resource—intensive than before or whether it is facilitating greater efficiency. Findings suggest that adaptation to a multi-platform outlook on the part of conventional media requires investment in staffing and re-versioning of content. Funding this, especially in a period of economic downturn, has encouraged a more selective approach towards content, with concomitant implications for diversity. Notwithstanding generally low commercial returns from online activities so far, the potential economic advantages to be had from multi-platform are significant. The experience of UK broadcasters suggests a well-executed ‘360-degree’ approach to commissioning and distribution will increase the value that can be realized from any given universe of content, partly because of extended opportunities for consumption of that content, but also because modes of engagement in a digital multi-platform context allow for an improved audience experience and for better signalling of audience preferences back to suppliers.

Repertory and riot: The relocation of plays from the Red Bull to the Cockpit stage

On Shrove Tuesday of 1617 the newly built Cockpit playhouse was attacked by a band of ‘lewde and loose persons, apprentices and others’. The uprising has been interpreted as a powerful expression of audience demand: the Red Bull audience’s response to the transfer of their plays to a prohibitively expensive hall playhouse. This article explores the centrality of the riot to repertory-motivated readings of the Red Bull, examining the connection in criticism between audience preference and repertory. At the same time, it provides a reassessment of the historical circumstances of the riot, and re-examines the evidence to offer it context beyond theatre-historical interpretations. I argue that reading the 1617 riot in terms of repertory management and audience satisfaction is not as inevitable as it has previously appeared, and suggest the need for repertory approaches that go further to recognise the successful relocation of plays across theatre spaces and audiences.

Can you tell me something about yourself?

The self-presentation skills of children and adolescents with high-functioning autistic spectrum disorder (HFASD) and typically developing (TD) controls were compared, in response to both hypothetical and real life situations. In both situations, 26 HFASD and 26 TD participants were prompted to describe themselves twice, first in a baseline condition, and later in a goal-directed condition where specific information was given about the preferences and demands of the audience. Confirming and extending previous research, both TD and HFASD participants exhibited a tendency to be more positive when describing themselves in a goal-directed condition. However, HFASD participants were less strategic than TD participants in responding to the information they were given about the audience preferences and demands. Possible explanations and implications of the results are discussed.

Audience duplication and its determinants: a study in the multichannel and multiculture television market in Guangzhou, China

This study examines audience duplication, the extent to which the audience of one program also watches the other, and its determinants. Using peoplemeter data from Guangzhou, a multichannel and multicultural television market in China, the study tests the intertwining effects of media structural factors and audience preference factors on audience duplication levels of program pairs. The results show significant effects of the two types of factors. A regression model was established in which these two types of factors together explained 59% of the total variance in audience duplication.

The Tone of Local Presidential News Coverage

There is little research on the tone of local news coverage of the presidency, despite the public's preference for local rather than national news. I use theories of media politics, based primarily on the profit-seeker model of news coverage, to explore the impact of newspaper characteristics, audience preferences, and story characteristics on local newspaper coverage of the presidency. Based on a sample of 288 stories taken from the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, I demonstrate that everyday local newspaper coverage of the presidency is slightly more negative than positive and that audience support for the president, newspaper resources, and corporate ownership affect the tone of local newspaper coverage of the presidency.

They stole the show!: Indian films in coastal Tanzania, 1950s1980s

Utilizing rare and innovative source materials, including hundreds of interviews and survey responses, as well as box-office receipts and archival sources, this article provides path-breaking insights into the history of audience preferences in Tanzania from the 1950s to the 1980s. It reveals a long-term passion for Indian films amongst Tanzanians of all class, ethnic and gender backgrounds, and explores the nature of movie-going in Tanzania. This article also describes innovative exhibition practices inspired by the overwhelming audience demand for Indian films, such as reeling and a black market trade in cinema tickets. While hinting at the complex reasons why Indian films became so popular among East African audiences, the article adds to the increasingly vocal calls for recognition of the place of both audiences and non-western producers and distributors in our understanding of global media flows.

Sex, art and sophistication: the meanings of ‘Continental’ cinema

From the late 1930s until the early 1970s, foreign language films were commonly categorised by Australian film exhibitors and distributors as ‘Continental’. Continental films were earmarked for exhibition to audiences described as ‘discerning’ and ‘sophisticated’, epithets which distinguished their more ‘discriminating’ taste from the popular preferences of mainstream cinema audiences. But ‘Continental’ had ambiguous connotations. Foreign language cinemas exploited the association of ‘Continental’ with high culture, for example, by appropriating French icons, but ‘Continental’ could also mean scurrilous and sordid. It was the Continental cinema audience's apparent transcendence of these moral ambiguities, its seemingly effortless appreciation of ‘art’, and its cosmopolitan approval of select aspects of foreign ‘culture’ that demonstrated its sophistication and cultural distinction. In its attitudes towards sex, art and ethnic diversity, the Continental cinema audience anticipated the more widespread social and cultural changes that would transform Australian society in the 1960s and 1970s.

The paradox of television privatization: When more is less

The argument of this article is that privatization of the audiovisual sector has had unintended consequences. The proliferation of private television channels has fragmented advertising markets and created incentives for the increasing importation of cheap American programming. This phenomenon is evident despite the fact that the demand for such programming is eclipsed by audience preferences to see their own cultures on the small screen. Thus the paradox of television privatization is that, in cultural terms, it has led to less, rather than more, consumer choice. While the debates about Americanization have mostly dwelled on the loss of cultural diversity, the consequences for the domination of American popular culture have not only been the erosion of national identities, but also the transformation of local politics as people's political perceptions become increasingly affected by American political reference points and categories.

The Case for Audience Isolation: Language and Culture as Predictors of Advertiser Investment

In what has become an increasingly multilingual United States, growing numbers of television advertisers have begun targeting foreign language speakers. Because of the increased cost and effort in crafting unique ad campaigns, however, the factors behind this investment decision are explored. Using an online survey, advertisers (N = 1,150) were asked how they valued various demographic audience traits as they considered potential target markets. T tests revealed significant differences between foreign language and non-foreign language advertisers' audience preferences. Logistic regression showed that, contrary to previous audience valuation findings, household income was not a primary factor in foreign language audience investment decisions. Rather, advertisers who valued household income more were less likely to invest in foreign language audiences in the United States, with language dependency and cultural traits predicting a greater likelihood of investment. The Audience Investment by Isolation Model is offered, which can help explain the investment decision-making process by advertisers as they weigh demographic audience traits, audience isolation strategies, and costs.

Voting for Pleasure, Or a View from a Victorian Theatre Gallery

Voting for Pleasure, Or a View from a Victorian Theatre Gallery

Voting for Pleasure, Or a View from a Victorian Theatre Gallery

Voting for Pleasure, Or a View from a Victorian Theatre Gallery

Enhancing Promotional Strategies Within Social Marketing Programs: Use of Web 2.0 Social Media

The second generation of Internet-based applications (i.e., Web 2.0), in which users control communication, holds promise to significantly enhance promotional efforts within social marketing campaigns. Web 2.0 applications can directly engage consumers in the creative process by both producing and distributing information through collaborative writing, content sharing, social networking, social bookmarking, and syndication. Web 2.0 can also enhance the power of viral marketing by increasing the speed at which consumers share experiences and opinions with progressively larger audiences. Because of the novelty and potential effectiveness of Web 2.0, social marketers may be enticed to prematurely incorporate related applications into promotional plans. However, as strategic issues such as priority audience preferences, selection of appropriate applications, tracking and evaluation, and related costs are carefully considered, Web 2.0 will expand to allow health promotion practitioners more direct access to consumers with less dependency on traditional communication channels.

Jam or cheese? The challenges of a national broadcaster in a multilingual context

In contrast to commercial broadcasters, national broadcasters are partly subsidised by taxpayers’ money and therefore have a mandate to serve their particular society within the context of the current political system. In democratic societies these mandates typically have to balance out the following challenges: • A limited number of available television channels and radio stations • Equity in terms of audience home language/language variety • Audience preferences and values • Audience ratings and the subsequent advertising income. The paper demonstrates that a public broadcaster can promote diversity and multilingualism AND be commercially successful. The multilingual soap operas produced for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will be the case in point. Moreover, the case studies will show how commercially successful multilingual soap operas can give new status to marginalised languages.

Domestic Audiences and Strategic Interests

A number of recent studies assumes that international threats issued by democratic states are more credible because their leaders face domestic punishment for failing to carry them out. Yet this argument is ultimately premised on an invariant willingness of the domestic audience to punish an incumbent for reneging on a threat. I relax this assumption and instead allow for the audience's preferences to vary according to its evaluation of the salience of the interests at stake. This theoretical modification generates several novel predictions that are strongly supported in the empirical tests. The analysis shows that democratic leaders engage in bluffs and even back down if their bluff is called. It also specifies the conditions under which democratic threats are considered credible or not, as well as the critical interplay between domestic costs and strategic interests that may lead to war.

Using Focus Groups to Develop an Extension Home Horticulture Public Radio Program

Since its creation in 1914, Cooperative Extension has evolved to include a variety of traditional and nontraditional program areas. To reach new clientele, Extension must create programs that appeal to more generalized audiences and that communicate public value. One area that has the potential to create public value with nonagriculturalists is home horticulture. The application of marketing analysis, planning, implementation, and management should be used to reach this audience and provide better service. The University of Florida Extension Service uses an integrated marketing communication (IMC) approach to convey the role Extension plays in the state and in local communities. One component of this approach has been the development of a home horticulture radio show to be broadcast on National Public Radio (NPR) stations. Two focus groups consisting of target audience members (both users and nonusers of Extension) evaluated potential topics and formats for the radio program. Participants preferred topics dealing with plant selection and basic maintenance in the climatic zone of North Central Florida. They preferred the radio show name to mention the 2-minute time format and favored the use of the word "gardening" over "landscaping." They also wanted the radio show to be linked to a Web site and wanted both the Web site and radio show to use a question-and-answer format. Overall, the focus group method was effective in discovering audience preferences.

State Legislature Web Sites and Public Participation: Designing a Civic Resource

The chief information technology officers (CTOs) of the 50 state legislatures were surveyed to determine the volume of each of their legislature's Web site use, their preferences of design criteria, their methods of audience evaluation, and the structure of control over site design and content. CTOs reported receiving over 1½ million visitors each week when in session. Use was related to site quality. Content was ranked above interactivity as a design criterion, but there was confusion as to what made a site interactive. Staffs that made an effort to determine audience preferences and focused on external and internal audiences produced higher quality sites. The legislatures' structure of control appeared to be one of only modest centralization.