Author Information
Utari Dewi, Gadjah Mada University, IndonesiaElmariestya Ardelia, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia
Abstract
Audiences in the digital ecosystem become active actors in public discussions by providing engagement, expressiveness, and collaboration in the digital space. Digital media commodifies audiences by utilizing attention as a commodity. In addition, Audiences indirectly work by receiving and distributing content in digital media, including podcast content. Podcasts are an alternative digital media that provides freedom of discussion in the digital space. In Indonesia, podcasts are often dominated by political information from celebrities, especially on YouTube. Celebrities upload political podcasts on YouTube based on consumption patterns that match the characteristics of the audience. This article aims to examine how the characteristics of the audience contribute to giving space for public discussion, which is now dominated by political celebrities in podcast media. This study adopts the theory of audience labor by Fisher (2015), focusing on the audience as a commodity that works under the influence of media algorithms and as gatekeepers. This research uses a netnography approach by combining virtual observation of YouTube political podcast channels. The findings indicate that the audience tends to have characteristics of consuming viral and sensational content. This characteristic is a form of audience labour that is commodified by political celebrities. Furthermore, the audience works as a gatekeeper in controlling information flows. Thus, audiences play a role in strengthening celebrity dominance, especially in political podcasts.
Paper Information
Conference: MediAsia2025Stream: Broadcast Media & Globalization
This paper is part of the MediAsia2025 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Dewi U., & Ardelia E. (2026) Audience Characteristics in the Dominance of Celebrity Political Podcast in Indonesia ISSN: 2186-5906 – The Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film 2025: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 215-224) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-5906.2025.17
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-5906.2025.17
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