Virtual Audience System as a new form of participation on television: Real-time fusion of different environments and audiovisual interactions into live broadcasts

Abstract

This study analyses the features of the recently created Virtual Audience System (VAS), designed for viewers’ remote participation in television shows. The VAS creates a new audience, known as the ‘prodience’, which lies halfway between on-site and online audiences. The main characteristic of this new audience is its ability to remotely and synchronically participate from different sources and become part of the broadcast. The VAS audience blurs the boundary between medium and audience, expands the set and production and calls into question the unidirectionality of television. However, the VAS currently has a bigger impact on production than on reception.