When two worlds meet: an inter-paradigmatic mixed method approach to convergent audiovisual media consumption

This article addresses the issue of audience fragmentation in cross-medial audiovisual content consumption, due to the consequences of convergence. It draws on an inter-paradigmatic theoretical framework to compile a double-strand mixed method approach that addresses this issue. More specifically, I combine the socio-cognitive interpretation of uses-and-gratifications and reception studies, i.e. domestication theory. While doing so, I decompose the phenomenon of audiovisual media consumption in terms of technology, audiovisual texts and socio-spatial context, hereby tapping onto this threefold distinction on two empirical levels. First, by quantitatively identifying patterns of all three components and explain them in terms of motivation and habit. And second, by means of qualitative domestic case studies, further inquiring these patterns from within, enabling a socially situated understanding. The results indicate that although traditional consumption patterns persist, differentiation is gaining ground, especially in the younger generations