How does the genre of a tv programme affect the uses sought and the gratifications obtained by viewers?

The following paper is dedicated to the relationship between television content and the viewers who watch it. In some ways, choosing a programme to watch on the television is no different to choosing a meal at a restaurant: one evaluates what he or she wants, what they need, what options they have and what they expect each one of them will provide us with. The research draws from the conceptual framework of the “uses and gratifications” theory and applies it in the context of media and television studies. The main question at hand is “How does the genre of a TV programme affect the uses sought and the gratifications obtained by viewers?”. Two methods were used in the research: an online questionnaire which yielded 390 responses from 44 countries, and 3 focus groups with a total of 11 participants, from 10 countries. Watching TV content included not only watching it in real time but also other popular ways of watching programmes such as on a mobile device, downloading or streaming it. The results confirmed the prediction that the reported uses and gratifications differ with genre, yet there was little variation: only two (entertainment and information) of the 6 uses, and also two (learning about the world and emotional release) of the 5 gratifications were the most frequent choice for a genre. Focus groups brought up the issue surrounding eating whilst watching, they also criticised TV for its content filtering process but praised it for its entertainment value. Concluding, the hypothesis was confirmed that uses and gratifications differ, depending on genre of programming but it was also the case that the most popular results were not very diverse. Predictions for the future of television programming include merging of genres as a successful strategy.