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An Audience-Centered Perspective on Media Brands: Theoretical Considerations, Empirical Results and ‘White Spaces’

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Handbook of Media Branding

Abstract

In an audience perspective a media brand can be understood as a construct carrying all the connotations of (potential) recipients comprising cognitive, emotional, conscious or unconscious associations towards specific media formats, personae, genres, channels etc. Audience-centered media brand study has successfully stimulated research, but is largely isolated from communication science and other related disciplines. The aim of this article is to review and structure audience-centered research on media brands and to uncover ‘white spaces’ in this field of interest. In applying a multi-level approach of audiences, the chapter not only considers extant theoretical and methodological approaches in audience theory, but also presents a flexible framework for different interpretations of media brands’ functions and effects.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It has to be mentioned, that participation and co-creation can be attributed to the micro and also the group level (e.g. individual perception and motivation to co-create, co-creation as part of a group identity). On the macro-level it is, indeed, connected with economic and political questions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Kati Förster

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  1. Kati Förster
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Correspondence to Kati Förster .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. IPMZ Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Gabriele Siegert

  2. Institute of Journalism, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Kati Förster

  3. College of Journalism and Communication, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA

    Sylvia M. Chan-Olmsted

  4. Transformation Center MMTC-Media Management, Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping, Sweden

    Mart Ots

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Förster, K. (2015). An Audience-Centered Perspective on Media Brands: Theoretical Considerations, Empirical Results and ‘White Spaces’. In: Siegert, G., Förster, K., Chan-Olmsted, S., Ots, M. (eds) Handbook of Media Branding. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18236-0_19

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