The Modern Mass Communication Audience

Media audience is becoming less mass and more selective. In today’s audience, less time available for media, and when audience members do spend time with the media, they tend to look for content geared to their special interest. There are more media today to choose from: TV networks, DVDs, video games, YouTube, movies and local radio stations. Advertisers have turned from mass to target marketing, paying a premium to reach those people most likely to buy their product or services.

Then there is convergence, this is a process of coming together or uniting in a common interest or focus. Operational convergence is several media properties in one market combine their separate operations in a single effort. In this way, it saves money because rather than hiring a separate new staff for each medium. Each medium can promote their partners.

Also there is the Increased audience control. Many years ago, viewers had to watch programs broadcast by local stations and the major networks according to the media’s schedule. Recent technological advances allowed time shifting, or recording a program to be viewed at a more convenient time. For many decades most people dependent on the news provided by their local newspaper or TV network, but today audience member can choose from 24 hour cable news network, internet sites (CNN) and Google News. Before the Internet, consumer with something to sell had to rely on the local newspaper classified ads section, but today they can create their own ads on eBay or Carousel.

Then, multiple platforms was created everywhere. Make content available to consumer using a number of delivery methods to a number of receiving devices. Newspaper or magazines have Websites for their digital versions that usually includes video clips. Ais Kacang podcast is a digital media format comprising of a series of talk shows with specific themes that listeners can stream digitally. YouTube, Flickr, Wikipedia are depending heavily on user-generated content. Member generate posts on Twitter and Facebook.

Mobile media can access the Internet through applications programs rather than through traditional Web browser. People can watch movies and TV shows, read books, newspapers, and magazines and surf the Internet on their smartphones or iPads.

Social media are online communication that use special techniques that involve participation, conversation, sharing, collaboration and linkage. Communication takes place at four levels, including intrapersonal, interpersonal, group, and mass. Mass communication role are to inform, to persuade, to amuse and to enlighten. Seven trends that characterize modern mass communication audience segmentation, convergence, increased audience control, multiple platforms, user-generated content, more mobility and social media.