Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2026
Virtual Audience System as a new form of participation on television: Real-time fusion of different environments and audiovisual interactions into live broadcasts
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.
CastellsM (2009) Comunicació i Poder. Barcelona: UOC Press.
4.
Cebrián HerrerosM (2004) Modelos de televisión: Generalista, temàtica y convergente con Internet. Barcelona: Paidós.
5.
Dafonte GómezA (2011) Evolución de los rasgos culturales del formato televisivo ‘Operación Triunfo’ en España desde la perspectiva de la identidad de marca (2001-2011). Revista de Comunicación de la SEECI25: 63–101. https://doi.org/10.15198/seeci.2011.25.43-67
6.
EvansECoughlanTCoughlanV (2017) Building digital estates: multiscreening, technology management and ephemeral television. Critical Studies in Television12(2): 191–205. https://doi.org/10.1177/1749602017698714
7.
García AvilésJA (2011) Dimensiones y tipología de las actividades de participación de la audiencia en la televisión pública. Ámbitos20: 175–195. https://doi.org/10.12795/ambitos.2011.i20.09
8.
Gestmusic (2021) Proyecto VAS. Memoria del proyecto. Convocatoria de ayudas 2021 destinadas a proyectos de investigación y desarrollo en inteligencia artificial y otras tecnologías digitales y su integración en las cadenas de valor. Report for the Ministerio de Asuntos Económicos y Transformación Digital. Report no. C005/21-ED, 7 October. Barcelona: Gestmusic Endemol S.A.U.
9.
González-NeiraAQuintas-FroufeNScaglioniM (2023) Virus on screen: consumption habits of the television audience in Spain and Italy (2019-2022). Revista Mediterránea de Comunicación/Mediterranean Journal of Communication14(1): 19–35. https://doi.org/10.14198/MEDCOM.23463
10.
Gutiérrez LozanoJFCuarteroA (2020) El auge de Twitch: nuevas ofertas audiovisuales y cambios del consumo televisivo entre la audiencia juvenil. Ámbitos. Revista Internacional de Comunicación50: 159–175. https://doi.org/10.12795/Ambitos.2020.i50.11
11.
HassounD (2014) Tracing attentions: toward and analysis of simultaneous media use. Television & New Media15(4): 271–288. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476412468621
HolmesS (2008) The Quiz Show. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
14.
JenkinsH (2006) Convergence Culture: When Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.
15.
JermynDHolmesS (2006) The audience is dead; long live the audience! interactivity, ‘Telephilia’ and the contemporary Television audience. Critical Studies in Television1(1): 49–57. https://doi.org/10.7227/CST.1.1.8
16.
JoyanesL (2018) Computación en la nube: Notas para una estrategia española en cloud computing. Revista Del Instituto Español De Estudios Estratégicos89–112.
17.
LeeJHChaJ (2023) Optimization of video streaming using SRT protocol in mobile communication network. In: ParkHKimSM (eds) 14th International Conference on ICT Convergence, Jeju Island, South Korea, 11-13 October 2023. New York: IEEE, pp. 1802–1804.
18.
Lorenzo-DusNBou-FranchPGarcés-ConejosP (2013) Impoliteness in US/UK talent shows: a diachronic study of the evolution of a genre. In: Lorenzo-DusNGarcés-ConejosP (eds) Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 199–217.
19.
LoretoSRomanoSP (2012) Real-time communications in the web: issues, achievements, and ongoing standardization efforts. IEEE Internet Computing16(5): 68–73. https://doi.org/10.1109/MIC.2012.115
20.
MajóJ (2009) Tendencias de futuro en el audiovisual. Quaderns del CAC. Convergencia tecnológica y audiovisual31-32: 27–32.
MellPGranceT (2011) The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing. Report for the Department of Commerce. Report no. NIST SP 800-145, September. Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and Technology – Computer Security Resource Center.
23.
NgWKYangCMChenCL (2024) Value co-creation on TV talent shows: cases from mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research19: 249–271. https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer19010014
24.
NigroH (2022) Cloud computing: retos y oportunidades. Rev. Ingeniería, Matemáticas y Ciencias de la Información9(18): 11–16.
25.
NurrohmanAAbdurohmanM (2018) High performance streaming based on H264 and Real Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP). In: ConnieT (ed) 6th International Conference on Information and Communication Technology (ICoICT), Bandung, Indonesia, 3–4 May 2018. New York: IEEE, pp. 174–177. https://doi.org/10.1109/icoict.2018.8528770
26.
OrtegaFGonzález IspiertoBPérez PeláezME (2015) Audiencias en revolución, usos y consumos de las aplicaciones de los medios de comunicación en tabletas y teléfonos inteligentes. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social70: 627–651. https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2015-1063
27.
O’ConnorB (2012) Spaces of celebrity: national and global discourses in the reception of TV talent shows by Irish teenagers. Television & New Media13(6): 568–583. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476411432159
28.
PadillaANavarroC (2022) Audiences and streamers on Twitch: consumption and production patterns in the Spanish-speaking world. Quaderns del CAC48(XXV): 67–77. https://doi.org/10.34810/qcac48id406109
29.
Quintas-FroufeNGonzález-NeiraA (2014) Active audiences: social audience participation in television. Comunicar43(XXII): 83–90. https://doi.org/10.3916/C43-2014-08
RostA (2006) La interactividad en el periódico digital. PhD Thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.
32.
RublesckiAS (2011) Metamorfoses jornalísticas: leitores e fontes como instâncias co-produtoras de conteúdos no jornalismo líquido. Estudos em Comunicação10: 319–335.
33.
SaulaL (2018) El futur incert de la televisió. Els avenços digitals i els nous hàbits de consum marquen les tendències del sector. Capçalera178: 40–43.
34.
ScolariCA (2008) Hacia la hipertelevisión. Los primeros síntomas de una nueva configuración del dispositivo televisivo. Diálogos de la Comunicación77: 1–9.
35.
ShaoC (2022) Television viewing habits revisited: the role of audience habits in the streaming age. In: KeithS (ed) Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Annual Conference, Detroit, USA, 3–6 August 2022. Columbia: AEJMC.
36.
SiaperaE (2004) From couch potatoes to cybernauts? The expanding notion of the audience on TV channels’ websites. New Media & Society6(2): 155–172. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444804041446
37.
SilverstoneR (2013) Televisión Y Vida Cotidiana. Madrid: Amorrortu.
TemplierMParéG (2015) A framework for guiding and evaluating literature reviews. Communications of the Association for Information Systems37: 6. https://doi.org/10.17705/1CAIS.03706
40.
TofflerA (1980) The Third Wave. New York, NY: Morrow.
41.
TurnerG (2010) Ordinary People and the Media. the Demotic Turn. London: Sage.
42.
VanhaeghtASDondersK (2021) Audience participation in public service media. From an instrumental to a purposeful vision. adComunica. Revista Científica de Estrategias, Tendencias e Innovación en Comunicación21: 45–70. https://doi.org/10.6035/2174-0992.2021.21.4
43.
WenzelEMBegaultDRGodfroy-CooperM (2018) Perception of spatial sound. In: RoginskaAGelusoP (eds) Immersive Sound. the Art and Science of Binaural and Multi-Channel Audio. New York: Routledge, pp. 5–39.
44.
ZhangYWeareAMKohH, et al. (2016) Cultural trends of audience online interaction with vocal talent shows: a comparative study between China and the US. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research45(3): 196–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/17475759.2016.1165726
