This book brings together contributions from scholars across Europe to present findings from a foresight analysis exercise on audiences and audience analysis, looking towards an increasingly datafied world and anticipating the ubiquity of the internet of things.

Foreword: Sonia Livingstone.- Part 1: A new crossroads.- Chapter 1: A new crossroads for audiences and audience research: Frameworks for a foresight exercise anticipating intrusive technologies, datafication and the Internet of Things.- Chapter 2: Designing a foresight analysis exercise on audiences and emerging technologies: CEDAR’s analytical-intuitive balance.- Part 2: Interfaces and Intrusions.- Chapter 3: Audiences’ coping strategies with intrusive digital media.- Chapter 4: Acknowledging the dilemmas of intrusive media.- Chapter 5: The co-option of audience creativity.- Chapter 6: Redefined relationships between audiences and larger powers.- Part 3: Engagement and Action.- Chapter 7: Small acts of engagement and audiences interruptions of content flows.- Chapter 8: Interruption, disruption or intervention? A stakeholder analysis of small acts of engagement in content flows.- Chapter 9: The micro and macro politics of audience action.- Chapter 10: Collaborations over audience action.- Part 4: Horizons and Agendas.- Chapter 11: Scanning horizons and envisaging scenarios for audiences: The internet of things and audience analysis, towards 2030.- Chapter 12: Implications for audiences across generations in a changing Europe.- Chapter 13: Audiences, audience research and an unfolding agenda 1 : Facing the challenges of intrusive technologies and the Internet of Things.

“Many fear that the algorithmic turn in journalism and cultural production generally evacuates the site of the audience. But, as Das and Ytre-Arne make clear in this skilfully edited volume that distils the research of 22 young European researchers, the audience is still there and we need to listen to them. This fresh and lively book offers many insights into those ordinary things we do as we interact with platforms, while keeping a close eye on the bigger issues: literacy and engagement, the politics of platforms and the elusive possibility of a European public sphere.  An exciting read!”–Nick Couldry, Professor, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK“This book sets an agenda for rethinking audience activity in a digital, 'datafied' world. Truly interdisciplinary and collaborative, the interwoven contributions provide innovative theoretical and methodological tools with which to explore audience practices inan increasingly fluid future.”  –S. Elizabeth Bird, Professor, University of South Florida, USA“Audience research is now more important than ever, as audiences have become more central to online media dynamics and data flows. With the emerging Internet of Things and the ubiquitous presence of platforms in our lives, this collection offers a timely and important guide to the future of audiences and audience studies. A thorough and insightful foresight study that is indispensable for the next generation of media scholars.”  –José van Dijck, Distinguished University Professor, Utrecht University, Netherlands, author of The Culture of Connectivity  This book brings together contributions from scholars across Europe to present findings from a foresight analysis exercise on audiences and audience analysis, looking towards an increasingly datafied world and anticipating the ubiquity of the internet of things. The book uses knowledge emerging out of three foresight exercises, produced in co-operation with more than 50 stake-holding organisations and building on systematic reviews of audience research. It works through these exercises to arrive at a renewed agenda for audience studies within communication scholarship in the context of intrusive and connected interfaces and emerging communicative practices. 

“Audience research is now more important than ever, as audiences have become more central to online media dynamics and data flows. With the emerging Internet of Things and the ubiquitous presence of platforms in our lives, this collection offers a timely and important guide to the future of audiences and audience studies. A thorough and insightful foresight study that is indispensable for the next generation of media scholars.” (José van Dijck, Distinguished University Professor, Utrecht University, Netherlands, author of The Culture of Connectivity)“This book sets an agenda for rethinking audience activity in a digital, “datafied” world. Truly interdisciplinary and collaborative, the interwoven contributions provide innovative theoretical and methodological tools with which to explore audience practices in an increasingly fluid future.” (S. Elizabeth Bird, Professor, University of South Florida, USA) “The Future of Audiences starts from the premise that we can no longer think about audiences (aka citizens, publics, subjects) without also considering the datafication of everything, the rise of platform and algorithmic power, the promised Internet of Things and other technological developments as yet unknown to us. As such, it is long overdue and most welcome. Along with its impressively broad lens and measured and thoughtful tone, this makes the book essential reading to anyone interested in how people engage with media, now and in the future.” (Helen Kennedy, Professor of Digital Society, University of Sheffield, UK) “As social media and platforms have made us all into content producers, is it still useful to retain a notion of ‘audiences’? With breath-taking speed, digitization and datafication seem to have made many of the classic questions underpinning audience research obsolete. The editors and authors of this volume have done a magnificent job in both demystifying the tech-hypes and asking the new relevant questions for future audience study. A must read for all of us who find themselves baffled at the intersection of old media, new technologies, big data, smart cities, algorithms, robots and what have you.” (Liesbet van Zoonen, Professor, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands) “Many fear that the algorithmic turn in journalism and cultural production generally evacuates the site of the audience. But, as Das and Ytre-Arne make clear in this skilfully edited volume that distils the research of 22 young European researchers, the audience is still there and we need to listen to them. This fresh and lively book offers many insights into those ordinary things we do as we interact with platforms, while keeping a close eye on the bigger issues: literacy and engagement, the politics of platforms and the elusive possibility of a European public sphere.  An exciting read!” (Nick Couldry, Professor, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK) “In the face of the most recent and the still looming media innovations that foster–and at the same require–sophisticated practices on the users' side the term ‘audiences’ sounds rather old-fashioned, a remainder from the mass media era. This book, a collective effort of young researchers with its parts being particularly well interconnected and integrated, tells another story: it demonstrates that there is a future of audiences–and a future of audience research!” (Uwe Hasebrink, Professor, Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research, University of Hamburg, Germany)

Delineates the key transformations in audience activity in the past decade by presenting outcomes of a trends analysis exercise and a stakeholder consultation exercise, from across 14 countries Includes an original foreword by Professor Sonia Livingstone, LSE, UK Builds an agenda for the future of audience research Identifies key implications for a variety of sectors that engage with audiences