Abstract
Although concerns have been raised that political infotainment programmes might increasingly substitute more serious information, empirical evidence about changes of individual viewing behaviour is scarce. The authors discuss audience specialization and diversification as two opposing patterns of audience response to a growing variety of public affairs programmes. While specialization results from selective programme choice, diversification may be furthered by the impact of situational factors. Using electronically recorded people-meter data, this study explores information viewing in the Netherlands over the last two decades. As opposed to concerns about audience fragmentation, the authors find that public affairs viewing has become more diverse on the individual level with entertaining information programmes used as an additional source of information. Dutch viewers were exposed to different public affairs information. The personal relevance of TV as a medium is one of the main drivers behind high levels of exposure.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 646-662 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | European Journal of Communication |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2013 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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Keywords
- Audience fragmentation
- infotainment
- news exposure
- people-meter data
- public affairs TV
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Communication
- Language and Linguistics
Cite this
How keeping up diversifies : Watching public affairs TV in the Netherlands 1988-2010. / Wonneberger, Anke; Schoenbach, Klaus; van Meurs, Lex.
In: European Journal of Communication, Vol. 28, No. 6, 12.2013, p. 646-662.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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TY - JOUR
T1 - How keeping up diversifies
T2 - Watching public affairs TV in the Netherlands 1988-2010
AU - Wonneberger, Anke
AU - Schoenbach, Klaus
AU - van Meurs, Lex
PY - 2013/12
Y1 - 2013/12
N2 - Although concerns have been raised that political infotainment programmes might increasingly substitute more serious information, empirical evidence about changes of individual viewing behaviour is scarce. The authors discuss audience specialization and diversification as two opposing patterns of audience response to a growing variety of public affairs programmes. While specialization results from selective programme choice, diversification may be furthered by the impact of situational factors. Using electronically recorded people-meter data, this study explores information viewing in the Netherlands over the last two decades. As opposed to concerns about audience fragmentation, the authors find that public affairs viewing has become more diverse on the individual level with entertaining information programmes used as an additional source of information. Dutch viewers were exposed to different public affairs information. The personal relevance of TV as a medium is one of the main drivers behind high levels of exposure.
AB - Although concerns have been raised that political infotainment programmes might increasingly substitute more serious information, empirical evidence about changes of individual viewing behaviour is scarce. The authors discuss audience specialization and diversification as two opposing patterns of audience response to a growing variety of public affairs programmes. While specialization results from selective programme choice, diversification may be furthered by the impact of situational factors. Using electronically recorded people-meter data, this study explores information viewing in the Netherlands over the last two decades. As opposed to concerns about audience fragmentation, the authors find that public affairs viewing has become more diverse on the individual level with entertaining information programmes used as an additional source of information. Dutch viewers were exposed to different public affairs information. The personal relevance of TV as a medium is one of the main drivers behind high levels of exposure.
KW - Audience fragmentation
KW - infotainment
KW - news exposure
KW - people-meter data
KW - public affairs TV
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U2 - 10.1177/0267323113501150
DO - 10.1177/0267323113501150
M3 - Article
VL - 28
SP - 646
EP - 662
JO - European Journal of Communication
JF - European Journal of Communication
SN - 0267-3231
IS - 6
ER -