Audience Economics: Media Institutions and the Audience Marketplace

By Philip M. Napoli

Book Overview

Focusing on the electronic media -- television, radio, and the Internet -- Audience Economics bridges a substantial gap in the literature by providing an integrated framework for understanding the various businesses involved in generating and selling audiences to advertisers. Examining the relationship between the four principal actors in the audience marketplace -- advertisers, media firms, consumers, and audience measurement firms -- Napoli explains the ways in which they interact with and mutually depend on each other. He also analyzes recent developments, such as the introduction of local people meters by Nielsen Media Research and the establishment and evolution of audience measurement systems for the Internet.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231126522
• ISBN13: 9780231126526
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.5"
• Age Range: 22 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Great Read for Media Studies and Industry Professionals

This is a comprehensive must read for anyone interested in how media audiences are generated and sold to advertisers. Napoli efficiently sheds light on the evolution and current developments of an intricate audience measurement process that will make you think differently about the content you consume. Napoli also describes the profound consequences that arise by the way in which marketers value us along the lines of race, gender and class. Despite the rapid pace of developments in measurement technologies, this book still provides a relevant and compelling look at the audience marketplace.

Great overview of audience economics

This is a serious book about how audiences are made and sold across a variety of media. It offers the serious reader a great framework for understanding how this vital part of our culture industry works. For media economists, there are a couple of inventive analyses that apply rational choice theory and audience theory to assess what factors influence assessments of risk (which influences content development and pricing). Even though the audience marketplace is changing fast in response to new media and measurement technologies, the book remains relevant. Well worth it if you want to develop a comprehensive understanding of audiences. Must read for media planners and strategists.