Audience evolution and the future of audience research
Abstract
This article considers how changes in audience behaviors and in audience information systems are affecting the future of academic audience research. This article first illustrates how changes in the media environment are undermining traditional approaches to audience research while also giving rise to alternative analytical approaches. This article then outlines the contours of a next-generation audience research agenda that reflects these ongoing conceptual and methodological developments. Reflecting these developments, this article next argues for a definition of ratings analysis that focuses not on a particular aspect of audience behavior (i.e., exposure), but on whatever forms of currency are employed in the audience marketplace. From this standpoint, the new media environment provides new forms of “ratings” that exist alongside—and integrate with—the old, and that can renew and revitalize the field of ratings analysis.
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There has been a switch from passive audience to active media users, who are looking for content that they are interested in, creating many fragmented and autonomous niches.
“There has been a switch from passive audience to active media users, who are looking for content that they are interested in, creating many fragmented and autonomous niches [29].”
From Digital Storytelling in Cultural Heritage: Audience Engagement in the Interactive Documentary New Life (2021) · cites this paper as [29]
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- Authors
- Napoli, P. M.
- Affiliations
- Fordham University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Napoli, Philip M.
- ORCID
- Napoli, Philip M.
- Venue
- International Journal on Media Management
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2012-04
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 79-97
- ISSN
- 1424-1250 (ISSN-L)
- 1424-1277
- OpenAlex
- W2013698882
- Cited by
- 93
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 5.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The International Journal on Media Management (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Networks and Communications › Media and Digital Communication
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media Studies and Communication
- Social Sciences › Communication › Journalism and Media Studies
- Keywords
- audience research, audience behavior, new media environment, media exposure, audience measurement, research agenda
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