captive audience
Can't-leave crowd
A captive audience is a group of people who must listen or watch because they cannot easily leave—passengers on a plane, students in a required class, commuters stuck in traffic with a radio ad.
The term often carries a note of complaint: The flight attendant had a captive audience for her safety demonstration.
It can also suggest opportunity: advertisers prize captive audiences.
Made to occur unwillingly
- obligatedRequired by duty
- coercedPressured into compliance
- compulsoryRequired, not optional
- mandatoryRequired by rule
involuntary · unwilling · required · duty-bound · imposed · pressured · constrained · conscripted
Transported travelers
- studentsThose receiving instruction
- congregationAssembled group of worshippers
- juryLegal decision-making body
- inmatesIncarcerated individuals
patients · attendees · commuters · listeners · viewers · parishioners · recruits · detainees
Unable to escape
- stuckUnable to move
- corneredUnable to flee
- strandedLeft without means to leave
- detainedHeld against one's will
enclosed · confined · imprisoned · quarantined · isolated · sequestered · immobilized · locked-in
Held in rapt attention
- engrossedWholly absorbed in something
- fascinatedIntensely absorbed and curious
- rivetedFastened or enthralled
- spellboundHeld as if enchanted
absorbed · transfixed · hypnotized · enthralled · gripped · hooked · immersed · intrigued
Paid promotional communication
- marketingPromoting goods to consumers
- propagandaBiased information for influence
- pitchFrequency of sound
- infomercialExtended TV sales broadcast
upselling · solicitation · indoctrination · telemarketing · spam · pushy · hard sell · monetization
forced
Made to occur unwillingly
- obligatedRequired by duty
- coercedPressured into compliance
- compulsoryRequired, not optional
mandatory · involuntary · unwilling · required · duty-bound · imposed · pressured · constrained · conscripted · obliged
passengers
Transported travelers
- studentsThose receiving instruction
- congregationAssembled group of worshippers
- juryLegal decision-making body
inmates · patients · attendees · commuters · listeners · viewers · parishioners · recruits · detainees · hostages
trapped
Unable to escape
detained · enclosed · confined · imprisoned · quarantined · isolated · sequestered · immobilized · locked-in · bound
mesmerized
Held in rapt attention
- engrossedWholly absorbed in something
- fascinatedIntensely absorbed and curious
- rivetedFastened or enthralled
spellbound · absorbed · transfixed · hypnotized · enthralled · gripped · hooked · immersed · intrigued · enchanted
advertising
Paid promotional communication
- marketingPromoting goods to consumers
- propagandaBiased information for influence
- pitchFrequency of sound
infomercial · upselling · solicitation · indoctrination · telemarketing · spam · pushy · hard sell · monetization · targeted ads
- free speechfree expression, freedom of speech, protected speech, speech rights, speech protection
- No Choiceno choice, no alternative, only option, take-it-or-leave-it, last resort