Welcome to Audience Practices: The Media Revolution is YOU!

Welcome to the most exciting chapter in Media Audiences! Don't worry if previous theories (like the Hypodermic Syringe) made audiences sound like passive robots. This chapter proves the exact opposite: modern audiences are powerful and active.

We are no longer just consumers sitting on the sofa; we are participants, creators, and rebels. Understanding Audience Practices is essential because it shows how everyday people use media to build their identities, connect with others, and even challenge media industries.

Quick Review: Why the Shift to 'Active'?

Historically, media theory focused on the Effects Theory—what the media did to the audience. Today, we focus on Uses and Gratifications (what the audience does with the media). Audience Practices are the real-world activities that prove this theory.

Section 1: The Audience as Producer (The Prosumer)

The internet and digital technology didn't just change how we watch media; it changed who gets to make it. This led to the concept of the Prosumer.

What is a Prosumer?

A Prosumer is someone who is both a Producer and a Consumer of media content.
Analogy: Instead of just buying a cake (consuming media), you buy the ingredients, bake it, decorate it, and share photos online (producing media). You are engaged in the entire cycle!

Key Audience Practices of the Prosumer

Active audiences use digital tools to express themselves and contribute to the media landscape. This is often done to project their personal identity online.

  • Blogging and Vlogging:
    This involves creating written posts (blogs) or video content (vlogs) that reflect personal opinions, expertise, or daily life.
    Example: A student creating a YouTube channel reviewing video games or discussing their favourite TV shows. This projects an identity as an 'expert' or 'tastemaker'.
  • Citizen Journalism:
    When ordinary individuals capture, report, and share news or events they witness, bypassing traditional news organisations.
    Example: Uploading a video of a traffic accident or a local political protest onto Twitter or TikTok. This practice challenges the power of mainstream media.
  • Livestreaming:
    Broadcasting real-time video content, often interactive, allowing instant feedback from the audience.
    Example: Streaming yourself playing *Fortnite* on Twitch or hosting a live Q&A session on Instagram. This is a crucial tool for social interaction (a key gratification need).
Quick Takeaway: The Prosumer

Media industries are dependent on prosumers because user-generated content (UGC) is cheap, highly relevant, and keeps platforms running (think TikTok). The active audience is now a free labour source for the industry!

Section 2: Identity, Membership, and Fandom

Our media practices are deeply connected to who we are, or who we want to be. Media helps us form and express our identity.

Connecting Media Practices to Identity

When we choose what to watch, read, or create, we are communicating something about ourselves. This links to our sense of actual self (who we are right now) and our desired self (who we aspire to be).

  • If you constantly share articles about sustainability and join activist groups online, you are publicly demonstrating a commitment to your desired self as an environmentalist.
  • If you follow a specific celebrity’s fitness routine and post your progress, your media use (following and posting) is a practice connected to a desired self that is healthy and disciplined.

Fans and Fandom: Audience Membership

The most visible form of active audience practice is Fandom. Fandom is not just about liking a product; it’s about audience membership—belonging to a community defined by a shared interest.

  • Identity Reinforcement: Being a fan means adopting the conventions, language, and values of that group. (e.g., *Trekkies* or *Swifties*). This reinforces a strong sense of personal and social identity.
  • Creating Subcultures: Fandoms create their own media, such as fan fiction, fan art, remixes, and conventions. This is a direct example of active production and is often vital for keeping a franchise alive (like the fan culture around *Doctor Who*).
  • Talking about the media: Sharing opinions, theories, and gossip (both online and offline) is a key audience practice that maintains the health and visibility of the fandom.
Did You Know?
The audience practice of remixing (taking existing media content and editing it to create new meanings) is a powerful way for fans to challenge or subvert the original message, often projecting a different meaning or ideology onto the text.

Section 3: The Many Types of Audience Pleasure

When we study audience response, we need to go beyond simply saying "I enjoyed it." Media theory gives us specific ways to categorise the different kinds of enjoyment or audience pleasures we get from consuming media.

Understanding Audience Pleasure (3.5.4.5)

These pleasures explain the deep, often psychological, reasons why we return to certain genres or media products.

1. Aesthetic Pleasure

  • What it is: Enjoyment derived purely from the beauty, style, design, or technical skill of the product.
  • Example: Admiring the stunning cinematography in a film, the careful composition of a fashion magazine cover, or the high quality of a video game’s graphics.

2. Cerebral Pleasure

  • What it is: Pleasure gained from mental stimulation, solving puzzles, understanding complex narratives, or learning something new (information and education need).
  • Example: Trying to figure out the plot twist in a thriller movie, following a complex financial news report, or engaging with theoretical discussions in a deep podcast.

3. Visceral Pleasure

  • What it is: A strong, instinctive, or physical reaction, often described as a "gut feeling." This pleasure comes from intense physical sensation.
  • Example: The adrenaline rush from a jump scare in a horror film, the feeling of tension during a high-speed car chase, or the physical excitement of a sports game climax.

4. Voyeuristic Pleasure

  • What it is: The pleasure of secretly watching or observing others, often in situations they are unaware of or shouldn't be seen in.
  • Example: Watching reality TV shows where people live in a closed house (*Big Brother*) or consuming celebrity gossip and private drama. It satisfies a curious impulse to peek behind the curtain.

5. Vicarious Pleasure

  • What it is: The enjoyment of living through the experiences of another character or person, sharing in their emotions or adventures without facing the risk yourself.
  • Example: Experiencing the thrill of climbing Mount Everest by watching a documentary, or feeling the excitement of winning a championship through a favourite sports team.

6. Cathartic Pleasure

  • What it is: The powerful release or purging of strong emotions, particularly pity, sadness, or fear, leading to a sense of emotional clarity or relief.
  • Example: Crying during a tragedy film to relieve stress, or consuming sad music to process your own emotional pain.

Memory Aid: The Three Vs!

Don't confuse the three 'V' pleasures:
Visceral = Vibration (Physical reaction)
Voyeuristic = Viewing Secretly (Watching others)
Vicarious = Via Someone Else (Living through a character)

Section 4: Contexts and Audience Practices (A Synthesis)

Remember, audience practices are shaped by the world around us. Your extended responses should always link these practices to the contexts of the media.

Cultural Context and Audience Practices

Audience practices reflect and shape cultural values.

  • Shared Media Moments: Are we still sharing media moments (e.g., watching a major sporting event live) or are practices now highly individualised (watching Netflix alone)? The decline of the mass audience for single products is a major cultural shift.

Technological Context and Audience Practices

Technology enables these practices. Without the internet, there would be no prosumers.

  • Accessibility: Digital technology has drastically affected the audience’s access to mass media. Anyone with a smartphone can access global media, but this also means traditional barriers to content creation have fallen, empowering citizen journalism and vlogging.

Economic Context and Audience Practices

Are audiences controlling industries, or being exploited by them?

  • Data and Exploitation: Media conglomerates gather huge amounts of data from audience practices (what you click, share, and watch). This economic practice can feel exploitative, even though the audience is providing the data willingly in exchange for ‘free’ content or services.
  • Economic Power: Conversely, audiences have economic power by purchasing or cancelling subscriptions or demanding specific products, thereby influencing industry decisions.

Key Takeaway for Exam Success

When discussing Audience Practices (3.5.4.5), always provide concrete examples of how audience members are doing something. Use the vocabulary:
"The audience for [SMP] is active, engaging in the practice of livestreaming its reactions, thereby acting as a prosumer and fulfilling the vicarious pleasure of shared gaming experience."

You've successfully mastered the ways in which audiences are powerful participants, not passive observers! Keep practicing those definitions!