Audience Studies

Abstract

Audience studies is a broad and multifaceted area of communication research. It encompasses a wide range of theoretical perspectives, as well as a diversity of methodological approaches, that all share a concern with understanding how and why audiences engage with media, and the broader political, cultural, and economic implications of the media––audience relationship. These areas of focus distinguish audience studies from the related area of media effects, which is more explicitly focused on the impact that media content has on audiences. The theoretical and methodological diversity of audience studies has been a source of contention within the field, as debates have persisted over the extent of audiences’ abilities to engage in alternative or oppositional interpretations of media texts; as well as over the relative merits of qualitative versus quantitative approaches to audience research.