Audience

An audience is a group of people who participate in a shared experience. This experience might involve a show, a work of art, or a piece of literature. Different activities use different names for audience members. People reading books are called "readers," while those listening to music are called "listeners." People playing video games are known as "players," and those engaged in academics are simply called an audience.

Understanding audiences is important because it shows how people affect art and how art affects people. This field of study is known as media audience studies.

Audiences can be categorized by how they encounter a message or a performance. A particular audience is made up of real individuals in a specific situation. These people may be persuaded by a speaker's ideas. An immediate audience consists of people who are face-to-face with a speaker. They consume the message in an unmediated fashion, meaning there is no device between them. You can measure an immediate audience through applause, verbal comments, or personal interviews.

In contrast, a mediated audience consumes content through a medium. These people use television, radio, or the internet to access a text. The medium separates the speaker, or rhetor, from the audience. Because these audiences are physically away, it can be difficult to know their exact size or composition. Researchers use audience measurement tools like opinion polls, ratings, or website forums to study them. This process applies to many fields, including music and movies.

Some audiences are theoretical, meaning they are imagined rather than real. A rhetor might use a "self" audience for self-deliberation. This happens when a person deeply questions their own ideas to test their value. Scholars Chaïm Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca discussed this in their book, *The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation*. They argued that a person is in a great position to test their own arguments. Another type is the "ideal" audience, which is the specific group a creator intends to reach.

There is also the concept of a "universal" audience. This is an imagined group used as an ethical and argumentative test. A speaker imagines a composite audience containing people from many diverse backgrounds. Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca stated that a universal audience requires reasons that possess absolute and timeless validity. While some critics say this is too idealistic, it remains a useful tool for ethics. Additionally, an "implied" audience is one that a reader infers from analyzing a text. Communications scholar Edwin Black called this the "second persona" in his essay, *The Second Persona*.

The internet has fundamentally changed the relationship between creators and audiences. Every person with internet access has a platform to reach others. This allows people to form online communities based on shared interests. In his book *Here Comes Everybody*, Clay Shirky explains that audiences do not just receive content. They can actually create it. This means a person can be a member of an audience and a creator at the same time.

Sometimes, audiences are invited to participate directly in a performance. This is often seen in shows that "break the fourth wall." For example, British pantomimes involve the audience in call-and-response games. In the film *The Rocky Horror Picture Show*, fans yell at the screen and use props. Companies also use "crowd activation" to build bonds with consumers. During Super Bowl XLVIII, Pepsi gave spectators "video ski hats" to create light effects. This made the audience a part of the halftime show's visual design.