If you want to build your audiences, media research can help Can a film, program or news piece stir a person to action? Does media help formulate our beliefs? Sway our opinions? At the Media Impact Project, we spend our days creating new methods to help find answers. We work with premiere partners from media and philanthropy who are interested in learning to what extent documentaries, podcasts, videos, TV programs and stories spurred audiences to action -- whether to push a Donate Now button, share a Tweet, post a photo, or to participate in the democratic process by canvassing, protesting or organizing. We look for projects that serve the social good, and to be a thought leader on research issues in our field. Explore these pages to learn of our areas of interest and how they might help YOU in your own work.
A unique partnership between MIP, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the team at Upworthy, the well-known viral content distributor founded by Eli Pariser in 2012, will bring a wealth of new research to light on viewer response to online content. In pursuit of its widely popularized mission "to change what the world pays attention to," Upworthy leaders decided to move beyond simply reporting audience reach figures and began to test the site’s ability to impact the advancement of prosocial outcomes. Hoping to generate broad insights into improving media impact for media producers striving to enhance the public good, they conducted a series of experiments, surveys, content analyses, and other investigations related to their mission-based content.
America Divided is a groundbreaking documentary series that features celebrities including Rosario Dawson,Common and Norman Lear. Broadcast on EPIX, the series worked with civic groups to host screenings and promoted discourse that inspired action among viewers nationwide. Our report looks at how groups organized and acted after viewings and measures the social impact of the series through interviews, surveys with audience members and organizers, and analytics. Read the case study
