TELEVISION AUDIENCE IN DIGITAL ERA: RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES

Defined mostly as anonymous and homogenous mass consuming the content from the small screens, in theoretical discussions, television audience has passed the long way from being defined as passive observers, i.e. mere recipients of the messages in the initial researches, through active interpreters who use television to satisfy certain needs and to the latest predictions about “viewsers” as active, individual creators of programmes in the context of new digital era. Development of new information technologies that lead to digitalization of television and convergence of the media environment has placed the demand on audience researcher to find new theoretical perspectives, not only related to the “activity” of television audience, but also related to redefining the very meaning of television and its various uses. The paper presents and analyses these theoretical contributions to understanding of the reception side of the digital television.