Production perspectives on audience participation in television: On, beyond and behind the screen

This article adds an empirical production perspective to the widely discussed concept of audience participation. It studies how audiences are integrated in the production of television and what motivations producers have to do so. Increased opportunities for audiences to produce or contribute to media content may change the way television is produced, as audience perspectives can be more easily integrated. Theoretically, the notions of corporate and political participation are discussed as a basis for a qualitative content analysis, focusing on a range of nonfictional television programs in Flanders, combined with in-depth interviews with editors-in-chief to study their motivations, looking at audience participation on screen, beyond the screen and behind the screen. Results show that producers mostly integrate the audience in the production process within a corporate understanding of participation, although some producers have integrated political forms of participation as well. However, rather than focusing on participation, a central motivation for producers is to engage the audience.