BBC's Semiotic Analysis of Humor

What makes modern Britain laugh? How semiotics helped the BBC bridge the Humor Gap

Chris Arning

International Journal of Market Research, vol. 63, 3: pp. 275-299. , First Published March 15, 2021

In order to find out why BBC is losing its young audience, the company commissioned research centers to conduct semiotic analysis based on 800 data points for production advice. By adopting multifaceted methodology including hashtag taxonomy, this research offers suggestions to BBC and shows us the top 20 popular humor types and a table of humor quadrants with their rhetorical functions.

The top 20 types are (283-285) : human foibles (237 data points, i.e. entries f WhatsApp diaries), eccentric characters (164), inter-textuality (156), silliness/cheesiness (147), funny mannerisms (143), in-our group distinction (134), rubbishness/crapness (124), disparagement/diminishment (104), randomness/absurdity (103), emotional hysteria (102), gender rancour (97), slapstic/physical (95), anthropomorphism (93), transgression (90), schadenfreude/reversal (89), cultural/social mores (85), scorn/mockery (81), exaggeration/hyperbole (80), awkwardness/cringe (80), and word play/puns (80).

The table of the humor quadrants and the top 20 types mapped on the table (292):

Arning, Chris. “What Makes Modern Britain Laugh? How Semiotics Helped the BBC Bridge the Humor Gap.” International Journal of Market Research, vol. 63, no. 3, 2021, pp. 275–299., https://doi.org/10.1177/1470785321991346.