ABSTRACT
This chapter advocates a move away from the active versus passive audience debate in Television Studies, and outlines a theory of “affective audience” by drawing on non-representational theories of affect. Focusing on the television industry and culture in India, it examines how the globalization of media industries, the proliferation of transnational and domestic channels, hybridization of programming, and the diversification of viewer/consumer experiences and expectations have fundamentally altered the relationship between television and its audiences. It also explores how researchers in television, marketing, and advertising are seeking newer avenues to target audiences in ways that go beyond representational strategies of conscious “looking” toward multisensory experiences of affect in non-representational terms.
