Introduction:

Research background:

This research is based on conducting ethnography of the audiences of television who belongs from various cultures. It is a known fact that different people have different preferences for watching the contents on tv. Now with the presence of the scope of watching international contents on TV and smartphones, people are able to explore the materials of shows and movies of different countries and different cultures. However; the preferences of the shows vary according to the cultural and ethnic belief of the audiences and also by their preferred television viewing experiences (Riff et al. 2019). Some people prefer watching television with their family, some prefer watching TV with their friends, and others prefer watching along. The differences are not only based on the culture but slightly also based on the demographics, which include age, gender and others. It would be interesting to know about these diversities on watching television.

This research thus will help in analyzing how people of a different culture perceive the content of the television program and the devices that they use for watching their shows. It will also assist in analyzing how the cultural differences impact on the mode individual preferences of watching television.

The research aims to implement ethnographic studies and theories to understand the differences in the preferences of watching television among the people or audiences of different culture and demographics.

The research questions are as follows:

How do cultural and ethnic differences impact on the television viewing experiences of the audiences?
How do demographic differences impact on the television viewing experiences of the audiences?
What are the different theories associated with the assessment of the television viewing experiences of the audiences?
How do globalization and technologies impact on the television viewing experiences of the audiences?

Theories:

With the globalization of media, people of different culture and ethnicity are now able to watch and understand the culture of each other. Now people can watch the programmes of different countries which are letting them know how television programmes and movies represent the culture of the respective countries. For example, the people of Australia are now able to access the programs of Asian countries like China, India and South Korea. Similarly, the people of the Asian countries are now able to watch the shows of the Western countries and Australia through their television. However; in the context of selecting the programs to watch, cultural values and cultural differences are also considered. The main reason is that people of a particular culture may not accept the contents of the shows of the people of other religion. According to authors Garcia Aviles (2018), cultural and social differences impact hugely on the preference of television programmes around the world. Even language differences also come into the context while selecting the preferred shows.

Moreover; contents of the shows of some countries might impact the audiences to perceive some section of the society different compared to the materials that are shown in other countries. For example, in the shows of Western countries, women are generally shown as strong characters (Prot et al. 2015). However; in many Asian and African countries, women are represented in the shows as the weak gender and subjected to domestic or sexual violence. Therefore; for many audiences, the content of the shows dos impact on their mind. However; it is due to their culture, that the majority of the audiences accepts these contents.

The texts of the television programmes are polysemic. For example, if one show is highly prevalent in one country, then some of the other countries might adopt the contents (Raesch 2019). However; they show the character different by the cultural values that are followed in their countries. This is made in the view of not hurting the cultural sentiments of the local audiences. The ideology of the viewers also varies by their culture. For example, in the Western countries, shows that contain the information regarding live together, relationships are acceptable. However; this content is not acceptable in many Asian countries by the majority of the audiences. The different perceptions of society also impact on the choices of television programs around the world. Moreover; with the professional growth, youths mostly prefer the use of smartphones for watching their favourite shows online.

Methods:

A qualitative approach has been used for collecting the data from four participants of a different culture. They constitute of different demographics and culture. Observation technique has been used, and their behaviour on watching television has been observed for one participant per week (Reinharz 2017). Their perceptions of their viewing behaviour have also been collected for further analysis. Ethnographic research has been conducted in this regard, and individual preferences have been given importance. A log has been developed for collecting the data.

Findings:

After the analysis of the viewing pattern, it has been analyzed that cultural differences impact significantly on the choice of television programmes among the participants. For example, in the case of the first participant who is an Asian, it has been identified that he is more inclined towards watching the programmes of his own culture. “When asked about his TV viewing nature, he informed that he watches those content in TV with his family which matches with their cultural views and which do not contain any foul languages or sexual scenes.” In the case of the participant who is 61 years old, it has been found that he is more inclined towards watching the news and religious programmes. “By watching news channels, he can know about the global information which keeps him updated. Among the genre of news, he likes watching the news on politics, sports and economy. “Shows on Jesus help him to be motivated and to leave a peaceful life without hatred and with respect for all people of all the religion and culture.”

More analysis is presented in the Appendix.

Discussions:

From the findings, it can be analyzed that in terms of choosing the pattern of watching television and for selecting the nature of the shows, both cultural and demographics differences impact a lot. It has also been seen that gender differences effect the choice of television programmes. Therefore; the theory on culture and demographics are linked with the international analysis on the viewing patterns of the audiences. It is clear that most of the participants are inclined towards their cultural preferences (Durante, Pinotti and Tesei 2019). However; there are also only a few people who accept the cultural differences and like to watch the shows which represent a different culture. Religious belief also impacts on the choices of programmes which can be seen from the example of the participant who is 61 years old.

Conclusions:

Therefore, from the analysis on the data from the participants, it has been clear that cultural, social and demographic differences are some of the features which impact on the choices of the television viewing behaviour. The findings from the research have been described in details and then discussions have been on the link of the theories with the findings. However; it would also be interesting to find whether the viewing preferences of the people are changing with the modernization of the society or not.

References:

Durante, R., Pinotti, P. and Tesei, A 2019, The political legacy of entertainment TV. American Economic Review, Vol.109, No.7, pp.2497-2530.

García Avilés, J.A 2018, Roles of audience participation in multiplatform television: From fans and consumers, to collaborators and activists.

Prot, S., Anderson, C.A., Gentile, D.A., Warburton, W., Saleem, M., Groves, C.L. and Brown, S.C 2015, Media as agents of socialization. Handbook of socialization: Theory and research, pp.276-300.

Raesch, M 2019, Jonathan Gray and Amanda D. Lotz, Television Studies (Short Introductions). International Journal of Communication, Vol.13, p.4.

Reinharz, S., 2017. On Becoming a Social Scientist: from survey research and participant observation to Experimental Analysis. Routledge.

Riff, D., Lacy, S., Fico, F. and Watson, B 2019, Analyzing media messages: Using quantitative content analysis in research. Routledge.

Appendix:

Day/Date/Time	Location/Duration	Participant Description (e.g. gender, age, ethnicity, relationship	Observations ( e.g. channel, program, activities, participant comments)
05.010.2019-11.10.2019	Home, Sydney	The name of the participant is Irfan, and he is originally from Pakistan. He is now settled in Sydney with his family. He belongs to the South-East Asian culture, and his current age is 30. He is the brother of one of my batchmate.	Since he is a working person, he gets maximum 1-2 hours in a day for watching television. This means in a week; he spends about 7-14 hours watching the video. He mainly prefers watching TV with his family. However; he also likes to spend some time watching his favourite web series alone. While waiting with the family, he mainly prefers viewing movies from India or Pakistan. He prefers watching family or comedy movies. While watching the film, he also spends time surfing various applications through his smartphone. He also gets involved in having dinner with the family while watching the movies. However; in 1 or 2 days in a week, he prefers watching his favourite web series, which is an American one and usually watches it on his holidays. When asked about his TV viewing nature, he informed that he watches those contents in TV with his family which matches with their cultural views and which do not contain any foul languages or sexual scenes. The reason is that his culture does not prefer or accept such contents. However; he is comfortable watching some American web series or movies alone as he has got accustomed to the Western culture. He prefers watching television; however; in the spare time, he also watches the web series through his smartphone. He was aware of the observation and expressed his viewing expression freely.
12.10.2019-18.10.2019	Office, Sydney	The name of the participant is Kennedy, and he is originally from Kenya and now settled for his professional life in Australia. He is from African culture and has deep faith and belief in his cultural values. He is 32 years age and his passionate about sports.	Kennedy is a significant lover of football and spends most of the leisure time watching football matches through his smartphone and the work desk. He spends 7-8 hours a week watching television. He loves to watch the games with a group or with some friends as he feels that it gives him more excited. Therefore; he often invites his friends to his home to watch the games together. However; the smartphone is his most preferred mode of watching the matches. However; he does not prefer watching movies or web series based on Western culture barring a few. The reason is that he feels that the contents do not match with their own culture and leaving some horror movies; he is not interested in watching other Western films. Moreover; he is also not excited about watching dramas or plays of his own country as those do not interest him. He was made aware of the observation and agreed to provide his personal views. He told that football is his passion, and by watching the games, he can keep himself fresh for work for the whole day.
29.10.2019-26.10.2019	Own family, Sydney	The name of the participant is Elisa, and she is my sister. She is from Australia and follows the Western culture significantly. Her current age is 22 and is passionate about watching movies, web series and music shows.	Elisa is highly interested in watching romantic dramas on television and also in her smartphone. She spends 20-22 hours a week watching television and other series through her smartphone. She regularly uses Netflix to watch popular romantic movies and series. She prefers to watch alone and often she browses her smartphones and has meals while watching those. In case she misses some contents due to her involvement in other activities, she watches those again. Rather than watching television, she prefers watching the movies and shows through her smartphone as she feels it helps her to be flexible on time while watching those. However; she at many situations also spends time with the family while watching family dramas on television. I made her aware of my observation, and she agreed to provide me with the information. She is a firm believer in Western culture and likes the way the stories and contents are interpreted in those movies. She is also an active follower of Western music and therefore; loves watching Western music shows in channels like MTV. According to her, the shows on music help in maintaining energy and happiness throughout the day and also help her to counter any negative emotions in her life.
27.10.2019-02.11.2019	Home of Uncle, Geelong	Richard is my uncle who lives in the Geelong suburb of Melbourne, and he is a retired banker. His current age is 61 and belongs to Christian culture. He loves watching news channels and religious shows. He respects his own culture as well as of others. He has many South Asian friends most of them were his colleagues. 2 of them are from India and one from China. Therefore; he is well aware of their cultural belief and their preferences on arts and culture.	Mu uncle is mostly interested in watching news channels, and he likes to be keeping himself updated on the news about Australia and of the countries around the world. He is a self-learner and loves to explore many fields of knowledge. He is also a firm follower of Jesus Christ and therefore; loves watching religious shows based on Jesus. Therefore; he spends time watching these channels on television. Being retired, he has got a significant amount of free time for watching TV. He spends 20-22 hours a week watching tv. He also loves watching tv with his family members rather than watching alone. He also likes watching Indian and Chinese movies for being aware of the culture of those two countries. He loves watching Bollywood, and Chinese movies in dubbed version and many cases invite those friends to attend with him. However; he is not interested in attending local channels which show social and crime dramas. He was aware of the observation. On being asked about his preferences on watching television, he told that he loves watching shows and movies of various cultures, however; he has high interest on watching Indian and Chinese movies as those are diverse in range and represents the culture of those countries in a significant way. By watching news channels, he can know about the global information which keeps him updated. Among the genre of news, he likes watching the news on politics, sports and economy. Shows on Jesus helps him to be motivated and to leave a peaceful life without hatred and with respect for all people of all the religion and culture. This is the reason he spends maximum time on watching the religious shows. He also informed that he encourages his family members to watch those shows as well as he believes that those shows can make them a better human being and would help them to counter all the significant challenges in their life.

AUDIENCE ETHNOGRAPHY

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