Commentary on Couldry, Nick,. “The Extended Audience: Scanning the Horizon.” In Gillespie, Marie. Ed. Media Audiences. Berkshire: Open University Press, 2005, 184-196 & 210 – 220.
Audience research has changed greatly with the obvious changes in audience. With conventional forms of media, such as television, radio and newspapers, audiences were passive. The experience of reading or viewing occurred, and extended no further. With the availability of interactive forms of media like the Internet, a phenomena of produceage has become more widespread. In Couldry (2005), an example is provided of an advertisement which offered shares in a film production in return for becoming an extra in the film. This example shows that there has been a power shift from the producers to the audience and it is this power shift which will be discussed.
This power shift has been triggered mainly by the diffusion of audience. This diffused audience no longer relates most closely to its locality, but rather to a global community. The diffused audience has it’s permanent umbilical cord to technology, where technology has permeated every aspect of modern life, from socialisation to work to entertainment. This audience is different to previous audiences, which were generally either simple or mass. Simple audiences could be found through theatre or literature prior to the “media age”, while mass audiences would be found through radio, film, television and newspapers throughout the late nineteen and the twentieth centuries. From this point onwards, audiences have muted into the diffused audience. In the life experiences of the diffused audience, media is no longer a “mass” experience, such as a cinema viewing or even television and radio broadcasts, as the media available is able to be fully customised. The emphasis is now less on the experience of community through common media, and more focused on the experience of individuality through customisation.
However, while diffused audiences celebrate customisation, they are inundated with media from every facet of life. Some examples include televised signs, mobile phones and newspapers. This means that the media is almost impossible to escape without becoming a hermit. Where the media is so diffused, it is logical to draw the conclusion that the audience is also diffused. The implications this has for audience research involve studying not just the direct interactions between people and media, and not only merely observing the direct media consumption of subjects, but instead studying the culture as a whole, in the context of media.
Power shifts occur whenever balances change, and in the media culture that is commonplace in many countries, suddenly, no longer are producers divided from audiences by a specific set of criteria. Instead, audiences now create via Youtube and blogs, a role that previously had been very specific to producers. This homogenisation is still taking place, disorientating many institutions set up for profit from production, who are experiencing a backlash against their perceived power.
