Meaning & use
mass audience
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Meaning
nouncountable
A very large and varied group of people reached by a broadcast, publication or event.
Grammar: Countable: a mass audience; with a singular verb in American usage and sometimes plural in British.
Patterns
- appeal to a mass audience
- reach a mass audience
The show was made to reach a mass audience on Saturday evenings.
Streaming has given small filmmakers access to a mass audience.
The poet never wrote for a mass audience.
Word forms
| plural | mass audiences |
|---|
Common combinations
- appeal to a mass audience
- The comedy was designed to appeal to a mass audience.
- reach a mass audience
- Social media lets individuals reach a mass audience.
- attract a mass audience
- Big sports finals attract a mass audience.
- cater to a mass audience
- Cheap tabloids cater to a mass audience.
- mass audience appeal
- The film lacked mass audience appeal.
Synonyms and how they differ
- general public
- General public means ordinary people as a whole, while mass audience refers to those reached by media.
- wide audience
- Wide audience is less technical and does not suggest industrial-scale broadcasting.
- mainstream audience
- Mainstream audience stresses conventional tastes rather than sheer numbers.
- niche audience
- Niche audience is the opposite, naming a small group with specialized interests.
Opposites
Word family
- mass adjective
- involving large numbers of people
- audience noun
- people who watch or listen
- mass media noun
- outlets reaching large numbers of people
- mass-market adjective
- made for a large public
Commonly confused: mass audience or mass communication?
mass audience vs mass communication
Mass communication is the process of sending messages to many people, whereas mass audience names the receivers.
Practice
The network wanted a drama that would appeal to a ___ audience.
Choose one answer.
Mass audience is the established collocation for a very large public. Massive describes size but is not the fixed phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “mass audience”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.