ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Audience scanning

Audience scanning is like playing a game of "I spy" with a big group of people. Imagine that you and your friends are all sitting in a big room with lots of objects around you. One person says, "I spy something blue," and everyone else looks around the room to find something blue.

Now, imagine that the people in this room are all watching a movie or a TV show. If someone wanted to know how the audience was feeling about the movie, they might ask people to do some audience scanning. This means that they would look around the room at all the faces watching the movie, and try to figure out how people are feeling based on their expressions and body language.

For example, if someone sees that a lot of people are smiling or laughing during a funny part of the movie, they might think that the audience is enjoying themselves. On the other hand, if someone notices that a lot of people seem bored or distracted, they might think that the audience isn't enjoying the movie as much.

So, audience scanning is like taking a quick look at a group of people to see how they are reacting to something, like a movie or a show. It can help you understand how people are feeling and what they think about what they are watching.