An audience is a group of people the view a piece of media i.e newspaper, television, and radio etc. An audience can be in a specific location or have a common interest. An audience can be all in the same room watching a performance all simultaneously like a cinema or theatre, or they can be watching the same event in different location from each other as long as they are watching the same event then they are an audience to that said performance, show or report.
The passive audience theory suggest that the audience receiving the information from the media will just accept what is being fed to them with little attention, it is suggested they tend to be weak willed. A passive consumption of information from the media will tend to have a direct effect on the audience. A passive audience is usually a group of people watching a sporting event, they are said to be weak willed. They also pay little attention to the message being said or sent.
An active audience suggest that the audience will form their own opinion based on the information they have taken in. With there being more information available to people you may find the the audience is more active now than maybe 20 years ago, this is due to the fact that people are more aware of the information they are taking in. They can do their own research very easily now, this has led to companies having to use new tactics to get their message across.
An audience is one of the most important things in media because without an audience you won’t get a message out to anyone, or you won’t get any customers which leads to little or no revenue. Due to this a lot of companies put a lot of money in their marketing team because this will essentially make or break the product whether its a film or something you can purchase. It is extreme important to know if you expect your audience to be passive or active because it could determine they type of media a company might use.
Real Film Talk 