audience; spectators; viewers
HSK level
观众 is written with 12 strokes (观: 6, 众: 6). The animation replays automatically.
观众 (guānzhòng) is the Chinese noun for the 'audience,' 'spectators,' or 'viewers' — the people watching a performance, film, sports match, exhibition, or TV program (电视观众 TV viewers, 现场观众 the live audience).
It is a collective noun (the 众 means 'the many / crowd') and is register-neutral. English speakers should note that 观众 specifically refers to those who watch, from 观 ('to watch'). It contrasts with 听众 (tīngzhòng), the audience who listen (to a concert, radio, or lecture), and 读者 (dúzhě), readers.
So for a podcast or radio, the correct word is 听众, not 观众. Because 观众 is already collective and plural in sense, you don't add a plural marker; to count individuals you use measure words like 位 or 名.
Character by character
Memory hook: 观 (to watch) + 众 (the crowd) = the watching crowd — the audience.
观众 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed — each with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
Browse the full episode library今天来的观众很多。
Jīntiān lái de guānzhòng hěn duō.
A lot of spectators came today.
spoken
这部电影很受观众欢迎。
Zhè bù diànyǐng hěn shòu guānzhòng huānyíng.
This film is very popular with audiences.
neutral
各位观众朋友，晚上好！
Gèwèi guānzhòng péngyǒu, wǎnshàng hǎo!
Good evening, dear viewers!
spoken
演出结束时，观众们热烈鼓掌。
Yǎnchū jiéshù shí, guānzhòngmen rèliè gǔzhǎng.
When the performance ended, the audience applauded warmly.
written
听众 is the audience that listens — for radio, a concert, or a lecture (从 听 'to listen'). 观众 is the audience that watches. For a podcast or song, use 听众; for a film or match, use 观众.
观看者 is a more formal/technical 'viewer,' common in online video stats. 观众 is the everyday, natural word for an audience. Prefer 观众 in normal speech.
群众 means 'the masses / the public / ordinary people,' often in a social or political sense. 观众 is specifically the audience watching something. Both end in 众 but refer to different crowds.
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