Harsh Taneja

Harsh Taneja is an assistant professor at the Missouri School of Journalism and a 2015-2016 RJI Fellow. He studies audience behavior and its implications for media institutions.This program of research and teaching draws on his interdisciplinary training in the Media, Technology and Society program at Northwestern as well as his professional experience doing audience research in global advertising and media corporations such as BBC and the Publicis Group. At Missouri, Taneja teaches courses in theories of mass media as well as research methods. Taneja’s research addresses 1) how audiences take shape in a fragmented digital media environment and 2) how audience fragmentation impacts commercial audience measurement practices. Theoretically, he contributes to the larger debate on the role of structure and agency in media choice. Practically, these theories translate into strategies for audience measurement and media planning. Methodologically, Taneja’s research projects involve quantitative analysis of data from Nielsen and comScore. In other studies, he qualitatively analyzes stories published in the media trade press and interviews industry professionals.