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The MEDIA IMPACT PROJECT is the research and evaluation arm of The Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. We are a hub for collecting, developing and sharing approaches for measuring the impact of media in order to better understand the role that media plays in changing knowledge, attitudes and behavior among individuals and communities.
We study stories -- in film, TV, documentaries, games, art and news -- and their impact on audiences. And we help media makers, cultural change organizations and foundations understand audiences and how to engage them. |
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Evidence for Audience Impact
Funders interested in narrative change often ask variations of the question: How do we really know what strategies are working? Our latest report summarizes 20 years of evidence for the audience impact of entertainment with support from the California Health Care Foundation.
Read the report. |
Trigger Warning: Guide for Creatives
Trigger Warning: Gun Guidelines for the Media is a new resource guide created by Hollywood, Health & Society to better understand the presence of gun use in the entertainment industry. The guide also includes data from our Shooting Straight study, among many others.
Read the guide. PRESS: Hollywood Reporter | Variety | Deadline Hollywood | Reuters | USC |
Extrapolations Impact on Viewers
Extrapolations is Apple TV+'s new groundbreaking anthology series about the life-altering choices that must be made in a changing climate. In partnership with Rare and Good Energy, we will measure the impact of this important series in the first quantitative study of a major scripted climate storyline in nearly two decades.
Stay tuned! |
Forbes' List of Climate Leaders
Our Media Impact Project Research Director Erica Rosenthal, and Hollywood, Health & Society Director Kate Folb are both on Forbes’ list of 68 Climate Leaders Changing the FIlm and TV Industry!
Check out the work we do in climate/sustainability here. |
Data for Good
We are partnering with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health to study how fat representation in film and TV -- particularly in medical dramas -- have impacted society’s perspectives and discussion of fat people. The study is funded by the Nielsen Foundation's Data for Good program.
Read more. PRESS: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
Pop Culture for Social Change
With support from the Pop Culture Collaborative, the Norman Lear Center's Media Impact Project created our first network mapping survey of the Pop Culture for Social Change (PCfSC) field. Connections and Accomplishments: A 2021 Pop Culture for Social Change Network Analysis is our first-ever “state of the field” report, serving as an essential, data-informed baseline for mapping, understanding and witnessing the evolution of the PCfSC field.
Read the report. PRESS: LA Times | The Hollywood Reporter | The Guardian | Teen Vogue |
