An audience is a group of individuals who are collectively viewed as the people tied to a particular medium or channel. This collective entity can be viewers, readers, or listeners of a message from a sender, as demonstrated in the communication models from the 20th century. The term audience became more prominent following the proliferation of mass media; it has diverse uses as the term has been used to describe an audience that varies widely in its activeness or passiveness. This entry offers a historical overview of the term audience and discusses the uses of the term, variations of the term, and the impact of audiences on organizations’ reputation.

History

The term audience was historically used to describe a group of spectators who physically assembled to view ...

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