Arguments for and Against Using Television Ratings to Measure Essay

Arguments for and Against Using Television Ratings to Measure Audiences - Essay Example Uses and gratifications approach stipulates that audience members tend to select the media that will satisfy their individual needs. In this case, people will use the media that meet their motives and eventual satisfaction of needs. Therefore, if a medium is more effective in terms of gratification, then people will use that medium more often. Media researchers were, therefore, concerned with understanding what people do with media with gratifications being understood as the effects that a certain medium had on the audience. A finding showed that there is a possibility that people will draw a similar response from the content of a thriller movie. Uses and gratification approach centers on the use of media based on the socio-psychological needs of an individual, as cited in Blumer and Katz (1974). They argue that the social and psychological aspects of an individual determine the kinds of expectations that these individuals have in the media. As such, individuals will seek the media that they find favorable in terms of their sociopsychological origins. Therefore, these sociopsychological characteristics will influence the individual’s media use as well as the expectations of gratifications that these individuals achieve from using the media. Richard Kilborn (2005) carried out a research on why people watch soap operas. The audience he assessed gave the feedback that they watched these soaps because soaps are an entertaining reward for the daily routine that comes with work. The audience also affirmed that soap operas act as the ultimate escapist fantasy that most people yearn for. Most people are said to watch a medium because in the content they can compare themselves with the experts. They also said that social interaction in the family and society were at large. People find certain media entertaining and educating at the same time. Gratification can be achieved only from the content being conveyed by a medium.