The importance of Media audience research

The primary reason that media research is done is to observe or study and analyze behaviors that comprise the viewing population and specific human behaviors that are evident as a result of the influence of media. Researchers that are into this study specifically include those organizations, institutions and individuals who may gain something from the studies; from government mandated projects or private agencies or companies whose interests may have their greater impact by how their businesses. Ideas or products may have their impact on certain populations targeted or reached by media.

Studies are constantly done on various populations categorized either by culture or defined by generational differences or preferences according to gender. These are being done on a continuous basis as fads and or trends change intermittently; and these changes, the variations or intervals between how fast or how long the changes come about are also part and parcel of the researches on media audience. Take for instance, the effectiveness of the Nike advertisement (e.g. Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant). Their packaging of the product and the choice of who the celebrity endorser will be, are expressly important and obviously interrelated (Kellner, 2007).

In a study on Television, the time spent by youths of today in front of the set exceeded any form of pastime or interest, surpassed only by the amount of time they spend in sleeping. They spend around 28 hours per week watching television programming, six times more than the time they spend for homework (Television, http: library. thinkquest.org). The people in the community constitute the consumers whose behavior ought to be understood by the businessmen because the success of a business enterprise depends upon them.

Different people purchase the same items but for a variety of reasons; referred to as necessity, social pressures, family pressures, convenience, inadvertence and economic reasons. The field of Psychology has provided ample explanations through theories made from researches and studies to make the understanding of consumer behavior, and its applications in a variety of ways, what it is today (Kellner, 2007).

Bibliography:

• Adapting Audience Research to Different Cultures. 
• Kellner, Douglas. The Sports Spectacle, Michael Jordan, and Nike: Unholy Alliance?