captive audience

Idioms  

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.”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

captive audience

"It's worth it for the banks, because they then have a captive audience, who are more likely to take other products from them."

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

Perhaps the only thing that can be said with certainty about Kevin Warsh’s press conference following his first meeting as Federal Reserve chair this week is that he will have a captive audience.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 14, 2026

The streaming wars peaked during the pandemic, with Americans a captive audience for two years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 14, 2026

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2025

Though she has acquired a taste for classical music over the years—“it’s like learning to appreciate a stinky cheese”—she’s been a not-always-delighted captive audience for many of my marathon rehearsals.

From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman

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