Audience theories continued

After completing my previous post, I have developed more knowledge into audience theories.

Clay Shirky- ‘end of audience theory’

This is a development of Gauntlett work.
He argues that audiences are prosumers and before it was a fragmented activity yet people now work in groups to produce media products.
His theory identifies new audience groupings which include:

  • Crowd funding
  • Collaborative projects
  • Publicity campaigns 
Shirky believes that organisations have to understand and respect the motivation of the billion new participants in the contemporary eco-system. The evidence for this is simple, its the connection in a network. 
‘Every consumer is also a producer and everyone can talk back’ 
He points to the old model and argues that the old model of producer-audience has broken down. We publish first and then filter. We find good stuff after the fact. 


Chris Anderson - Long tail theory

The long tail theory relates to the film industry in terms of distribution. The shops that sell films are gradually becoming less popular for audiences due to little shelf space, internet retailers are far more used and the can produced for niche markets, which increasing their audience due to their wide variety of products. Places such as Netflix and YouTube offer a lot to their audience and as the internet is becoming even more accessible, the use of these online retailers makes it easier for audiences to watch and enjoy content.
These online platforms are allowing audience to have more say within the industry of movies, they are able to give feedback and help improve the products being distributed to them. Not only this but audiences are able to narrow down their choices of film via filtering services, this allowing them to find content that directly satisfies their needs and expectations.

Audiences gravitate more towards niches because the are able to satisfy narrow interests better. Technology has made it more simple for consumers to find their needs and buy products that fit them due to the infinite shelf-space effect'.

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