From constituencies to audiences: lessons from Brazil about audience analytics in representative politics

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The pursuit of audiences is a key driver of the mediatization of politics, yet it remains unclear how parliamentarians carry out this task. Drawing on interviews with members of Brazil’s Congress, this study investigates how politicians incorporate audience analytics into their communication strategies. It introduces a conceptual framework of audience perception – distinguishing among loyalists, followers, and audience reservoirs – to explain how politicians interpret digital publics. Findings reveal that parliamentarians’ perceptions of their audiences differ from their perceptions of electoral bases. Their follower base undergoes context collapse, disembedding audiences from their social context. Digital media re-embed these constituencies in platform contexts, wherein parliamentarians believe they must become always-on content producers, perform authenticity, and engage in information cycles. These findings reveal that audience analytics incentivize a sales orientation in parliamentary communication, distorting representation by recasting audiences as targets of influence rather than publics to whom politicians are accountable.