Audience Activity and Gratifications

Certain aspects of the concept of an “active” mass media audience are explored and two dimensions of audience activity identified. The first activity dimension centers on the qualitative orientation of audiences toward the communication process. Audiences are seen as being “selective,”“involved,” or in a “using” relationship to communications. The second activity dimension relates to specific phases in the communication sequence and includes a preexposure period, exposure itself, and a postexposure time. Based on these two dimensions (audience orientation and temporal sequence), a typology of nine audience “activities” is developed. Empirical measures of three types of activity are derived and tested, with audiences found to vary considerably with regard to their “activeness.” A model that links audience activity to uses and gratifications and to exposure is then proposed.