Audience research.

Audience research is the practice of collecting information about a group of people concerning their use or consumption of a particular type or instance of information media. The medium of interest to the audience could be any of a wide variety, from books to movies to television or newspapers. The medium could also be a more specific instance of one of these types, such as mystery novels, action films, or situation comedies on television. Because there are so many different types of media, each with its own audience, there are many ways of categorizing the types of audience research one may perform. Audience research can be studied with regard to the type of media the audience is interested in, the characteristics of the audience, the manner in which the media is consumed (paper or digital, mobile or desktop, audio, etc.), the purpose of the research, and many other reasons.