About the lecture

In this module, we look at television audiences in more detail. In particular, we look at: (i) why television audiences matter to the industry and to television studies: (ii) how assumptions about television watching include social and communal experiences, distracted and interrupted viewing, and individual control; (iii) how shifts in television watching include more individual choice, binge-watching, and less collective viewing; (iv) how important events and certain programs can still bring audiences together; (v) the idea of second screening, using multiple devices while watching; (vi) how assumptions about television audiences include the idea that they are passive, easily influenced, and unable to distinguish fiction from reality; (vii) how ethnographic audience research has shown that viewers engage with shows in complex ways; (viii) how audience responses are diverse and should not be generalised; (ix) how the meanings of programs are shaped by how audiences engage with them and their own identities and experiences; and (x) how television studies explores how audiences' interact with television in a thoughtful and engaged manner.

About the lecturer

Dr Simone Knox is Associate Professor and Head of Department for the Department of Film, Theatre & Television at the University of Reading. She specialises in the analysis of television and film, especially style and medium specificity, acting and performance, adaptation and translation (including dubbing and subtitling), the politics of representation, and the lived experience of screen culture. She has written widely, including her book Friends: A Reading of the Sitcom.