Uses and Gratifications Theory

Uses and gratifications theory treats the media audience as active rather than passive, asking why people deliberately seek out particular media to satisfy needs such as information, relaxation, social connection or diversion, rather than asking only what media does to its audience. Elihu Katz, Jay Blumler and Michael Gurevitch set out its modern framework in 1974, building on audience research from the 1940s. Critics argue it functions more as a data collecting approach than a fully predictive theory, and that its heavy reliance on self reported questionnaires makes it hard to verify the reasons audiences give for using media against the reasons that actually drive them.