Audience

Audience

Uses and Gratifications of Media

The main target for the film-going audience is 16-24 years old.

Uses and Gratification can be presented by the acronym PIES which stands for:

Personal Identification

Information

Entertainment

Social Interaction

These are reasons for why people view media and receive gratification from it. 

Personal Identification means when somebody watches media and can feel relevant to it and can feel the similarity to an event in their lives and the event on the form of media. This is commonly associated with most people but could be more focused based on the specification of the movie. It could be about teenage romances with the audience being more focused on young adults or teenagers or it could be about soldiers suffering after battles or wars and so is more focused on ex-servicemen.

Information is when people view media for non-other than information. Whether it be recent events in the form of news or past occurrences in history displayed by a documentary. This is commonly for learners like students or for an older target audience rather than directed at young adults or teenagers.

Entertainment is the most simple form of Uses and Gratifications as it is just the base reason for people viewing media. Many people just merely view media for the entertainment 'value' offered by the film and can be in many forms whether that be action from movies or video games or romance on Radio or television. This can cover any member of society as all people gain entertainment from something and most media is created to entertain.

Social Interaction however is the viewing of media for the mere purpose of talking or communicating about it afterwards with friends or family. This is associated with the main target for the film industry as they are the ones who are most socially active within communities and with friends.