1. It is relatively easy to gain access to the broadcast or publication you want to study.
2. It is relatively easy and inexpensive to build a representative sample.
3. It produces highly reliable (usually quantitative) data. Content Analyses are usually easy to repeat (“replicate”). Complex forms of social interaction can be quantified using a standardised framework (the content analysis grid) that can be applied across a wide range of media.
4. It can present an objective account of events, themes, issues and so forth that may not be immediately apparent to a reader, viewer or general consumer.
5. It is an unobtrusive method - it doesn’t involve the researcher interacting with the people / things being studied.
The researcher cannot, therefore, influence the behaviour of the people being studied.