Blumler and Katz

The Blumler and Katz theory 

Users and gratification's theory. Blumler and Katz is a popular approach in understanding mass communication. This theory focuses on the audience rather than the message that is displayed. It asks what do people do with media rather than what does media do to people. The theory assumes that the audience are not passive but take a active role in taking in media and use the media to affect themselves.

When we take in a piece of media Blumler and Katz say we have to fulfil one of the following things to interact with the media - 

Identify - Being able to recognise the product or person in front of you, role models that reflect similar values to your own or the aspiration to be somebody else.

Educate - Learn something from the media, Acquire information, understanding and knowledge from it.

Entertainment - What you see should entertain you, you should enjoy it. You should get some sort of 'escapism' which helps us forget about our worries or problems for a short period. 

Social interaction - The ability of a form of media to create a topic of conversation between people. It can spark debates, enjoyment and create new information between people.

 This theory is criticised since people believe we have no power over the media and what it produces, It is said we 'let the media off the hook' when it comes to what they produce  as they don't take responsibility in what they do show. The idea that we simply use the media to satisfy us for something we don't need shows the power and influence that the media has over us.

I have applied this theory towards our group music video. The purpose behind our video is to interact with our audience and give them the realisation that time goes fast and we don't stay young forever. This would spark a topic of conversation between people and make people talk about the video and the idea behind it. 


We want our audience to be active in how they receive our video and reflect on themselves when they have watched it.