Attitudes of Audience Living in North Cyprus towards Watching Match Making Programs

The study seeks to explore the watching behaviors and motivations of match making programs’ audience who live in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Match making programs have been popular both in Turkey and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus since they were broadcasted in 2000. Particularly, the most popular programs Esra Erol’da (ATV), Seda Sayan Evleneceksen Gel (Show TV), Zuhal Topal’la (Star TV) and Kısmetse Olur (Kanal D) are broadcasted every weekday afternoon for an average of four hours a day. This research applies the Uses and Gratifications Theory to find out the audiences’ watching motivations and gratifications they obtained from match making programs. The study is a quantitative study. In-house questionnaires were distributed for data collection to 362 people who live in Nicosia in spring 2017. The questionnaire comprises 58 questions. The first section of the questionaire explores demographic characteristics of the participants. The second part focuses on the watching behaviors and motivations of participants. The last part includes 5-point Likert Scale questions. According to the results, participants watch match making programs every day or at least a few days a week. In addition, majority of match making audience watch match making program and have someone who watch match making programs around them. The results indicate that, primary motive for people for watching match making programs is ‘entertainment’. The second highest motivation is passing time /habit. Although majority of participant’s watch match making programs they support banning of these programs. Besides, participants would like to watch documentary instead of match making programs. It can be concluded that the participants of this study also seek to gratify their information needs. Keywords: Audience, television, match making programs, watching motivation, gratifications.