Audience 2 - What do audiences get out of consuming TV?

We looked at the needs of the audience and why they might want to watch TV. Consider which ones apply to TV Crime Drama and which ones apply to your own. 

Uses and Gratifications Theory

Blumier and Katz suggested in the 1970s that the media audiences make active choices about what to consume in order to meet certain needs. Their Uses and Gratifications Theory tries to show the different reasons that audiences have for consuming certain media texts.
The Uses and Gratifications Theory
Media Consumers choose media texts that fulfill one or more of these needs:

· The need to be INFORMED and EDUCATED about the world in which they live

· The need to IDENTIFY personally with the characters and situations in order to learn more about themselves

· The need to be ENTERTAINED by a range and variety of well constructed texts

· The need to use the media as a talking point for SOCIAL INTERACTION
· The need to ESCAPE from their ‘daily grind’ into other worlds and situations