Owing to developments / improvements in digital technology, audiences now access news in a variety of different formats, particularly with Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms. Twitter is deemed to be the most influential of these social media platforms in it's ability to 'spread' news to a vast/wide audience - when you think people retweet and therefore, 'pass on' news stories. Using the X Factor final in 2014, did you know that over 1 million tweets were sent during the show - this allows for a shared experience and illustrates how one person can enhance another.
Key Point: Audiences can access news through a variety of different formats. This means that TV
news is facing potentially difficult times as it is no longer seen as important because audiences make use
of other formats. There is uncertainty over the future of TV news. Audiences no longer need to turn on
the news at 6pm to access information about what has happened that day – they use other methods.
Digital technology has had a major impact on how we access news this includes both Twitter &
Facebook. TV news broadcasts compete with web-based platforms, including social media. The role of audiences has changed due to social media in the way in which they were previously passive news consumers but are now active news makers and commentators.
Using BBC News 24 as an example, they encourage audiences to interact with the programmes, this
making them ‘active’ and no longer ‘passive’. Information for people wishing to text, email or tweet
the channel is frequently displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can also contribute their responses
to stories and at times, to act as reporters, for example, sending pictures or videos of an event.
This provides what is called an ‘inclusive’ mode of address and this is indicative of a shift from a more
formal and serious tone. This can also be seen in a number of other news broadcasts.
Other interactive options include the ‘red’ button. This allows viewers to select what they want
to watch. Empowering audiences is a major change in the relationship between audience and
producer. This is similar to how people use the internet. Key Fact: In comparison to other types of channel, TV news only has 7.01% of the audience share.
Entertainment has the highest market share of 22.9%. (January 2015, BARB)
Some key quotations that you can use in the exam if discussing the impact of technology on audiences and how they no longer have the need to access TV news are shown below:
'Live TV is not only still popular but has been enhanced by new technologies like Twitter that build on the experience' Sue Unerman, Mediacom (This illustrates how, during a news broadcast, audiences are able to tweet, email, send their own videos or pictures or even a Facebook message directly to the news broadcaster)
'In 2012, the average teen watched 142 minutes of TV everyday, in May 2012, they watched 140'. The Viewing Report, Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB - 2015) This illustrates that teenagers are watching less television that in previous years - this is a result of improvements in digital technology.
'Twitter is a synchronised social soundtrack for whatever is happening at the moment, as a shared experience'. Deb Roy, Twitter
Look at these audience figures for television news - these look at the audience ratings during the 1960s, 2001 and 2014. What do these suggest about the number of people watching TV news?
1960s: Average figures for ITV News at Ten: 12 million
2001: ITV News at Ten: 8 million
2014: BBC News at Ten: average under 4.2 million, ITV Evening news: average 3.1 million, Channel 4 news: average 600,000
This shows that audience figures are gradually decreasing - one of the main reasons for this is due to people accessing news in a number of other formats.
Now look at this image below. This shows the % share of audience for the different genres of TV programme available to audiences - what is the audience share for TV news? What does this suggest?
These statistics are correct at February 15th 2015 - you should try and quote these in the exam, if and where relevant.
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