The Audience has changed dramatically over the last 100 years with the age of digitalisation. The readings and our workshop this week we had a discussion on this topic of ‘The Audience’.
We discussed on ‘What the audience used to be’ and it is interesting we see the progression of what is thought to be the audience over history. For the entire time probably before the digital age or more precisely the invention of the press the audience was thought to be this ‘passive thing’. Where the media they were exposed to would only affect them, nowadays it is more the other way around. The audience would go to the theatre to watch the play, watch a show etc. Then came the invention of the press where there were tabloids, which was basically mobile versions of telegrams people were sending around and anyone that would be able to access these tabloids would become the audience.
Then more and more interaction between the institutions, mediums and the audience has increased with the digital age, with things like cinema, TV and internet. Now the audience have the ability to affect the media produced, due to reviews, social media, ratings and viewership they can affect how the institutions go about making their media. The audience has more and more become more active in their influence within the media world, as the producers create content for the audience and if the client isn’t happy they will change their approach. Where as before the digital age the audience will only view the media and it will affect how the audience goes about their lives.
