Manipulate desire for audience (5)
I believe the answer is:
knead
'manipulate' is the definition.
(kneading is a kind of manipulating)
'desire for audience' is the wordplay.
'desire' becomes 'need' (needing is a kind of desiring).
'for audience' shows a homophone (sound like).
'need' sounds like 'KNEAD'.
(Other definitions for knead that I've seen before include "Work dough or massage flesh" , "Work with finger movements" , "Work (dough) into mass" , "Work flour into dough manually" , "Somehow work in" .)