captive audience

1. Listeners or onlookers who have no choice but to attend. For example, It's a required course and, knowing he has a captive audience, the professor rambles on endlessly. This expression, first recorded in 1902, uses captive in the sense of “unable to escape.”

Example Sentences

"We would go on the road with no plans, no hotels booked, no gigs lined up and we thought the only place we might find a captive audience was at a university - a completely off-the-wall idea but I'm glad we did it."

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As played by Hawke, Hart adores holding court, entertaining his captive audience with witty put-downs and gossipy Broadway anecdotes.

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In the hospital newborns are a captive audience, so it’s easier to get them there than waiting for a later visit, which some may miss.

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They wanted a captive audience for long enough to lay out their case for change.

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Mr Coatsworth said these shops "benefit from a captive audience allowing the company to generate strong margins".

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