Characteristics of Audiences, audience fragmentation, Type of audiences: Elite audience, General audience, specialized audience, target audience

Audience

Audience has a great importance in the communication process. If there is no Audience, the communication process will be incomplete. The importance that a speaker has in the communication process, the more importance it has to its Audience. It is difficult to fit the definition of Audience in a certain criteria. It becomes a definition in the context in which it is viewed.

• In the context of communication, the audience is the person or group that accepts the message. On this basis, it is called the receiver.
• In the communication process, the recipient of the message is called the recipient, so the audience is also called the recipient.

The meaning of the Audience also diverges in terms of the places or processes used for it.

• In mass communication, the meaning of mass is 'people' who use mass media. These classes use different mass media as per their convenience.
• Similarly, if we explain 'Jan' in public relations, people connected at the internal and external level of any organization are called people or Audience. These people are also the employees of the organization and also the consumers of the organization.

In the context of media, Audience is known by its different names depending on the trend of the media-

• If the Audience belongs to the newspaper, it is called a reader. The quality of the reader is that he is literate and has the ability to read and understand the news written in the newspaper.
• If the Audience is from radio, It is called listener. The quality of the audience is that it is literate or illiterate, has the ability to understand the messages received from the radio platform.
• If the Audience is belongs to television in the atmosphere, then its form changes. Television audiences are called viewers. Audience acts as a message by watching the news broadcast on television.
• In the same way, a new class of Audience has been created, which is called Users. This class uses online media. This class uses the materials available on the online platform. At present, this audience class is considered to be the most sophisticated for obtaining information.

Depending on the tendency of the people in the society, they also know the names by different names and their nature seems to be different in view of their behavior towards the media.

• It contains an Elite Audience. This class is the leader of the society. Its popularity is very high in the society. This class is followed by most people in the society. This class is more preferred in the media. The media gets the necessary material for its program making from this class. That's why this class has a lot of participation in media programs. While this class due to their engagements is not able to give the media as much time as the general section of the society. Politicians, actors, sportsmen, teachers, doctors, religious leaders etc. fall into this category.
• The General Audience is the exact opposite of Elite Audience. The General Audience depends on the media for information. This class makes more use of media for information. The popularity of media is determined by this category. Media's popularity depends on usage of General Audience. In society, the middle class can be seen as a general audience.

If we look at the Audience in terms of media and society, its name also changes.

• When the media selects a specific audience to formulate its program, it is called audience targeted audience. The media prepares its programs only for the specific needs of this audience. Preparation of programs such as showing the movement related to the stock market for the Audience category related to business activities.
• Similarly, when a part of society is different due to certain characteristics and its needs are different. This class is called a specialized audience based on its specific needs. For example tribal communities, children etc.

Some of the common symptoms of addiction are:-

• It is an important element in the communication process.
• It serves to capture the message.
• Without this, the communication process is incomplete.
• Can be classified on the basis of different trends of audience. Such as readers, listeners, viewers and users.
• The message is constructed by looking at the needs and trends of the audience.