Sample Exam Question Section B

 New technologies have made audiences more complex and unpredictable. How far do you agree with this statement?

New technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, social media, streaming services, and other technologies have strongly influenced the complexity and unpredictability of audiences. Some will argue that technology has made it easier to understand audiences with new data collection methods, audience segmentation and personalization, and use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze data and predict patterns. This is true, however the rate at which audiences are becoming more complex due to these technologies is at a faster pace then the rate at which we understand audiences. Not to mention the diversity of audiences and the vast ways they can express themselves which is ever expanding.

Due to new technologies such as social media and streaming services people have more content and more platforms they can access. This makes it harder to capture the attention of audiences since they are no longer concentrated into one place. Also, this has allowed people with specific interests to form their own communities which makes it harder to make content that satisfy all audiences. New technologies also make more complex productions possible. As an example technology use in The Wild Robot allowed it to look hand painted through the use of openEXR. The production process for movies have become more complex to hold audiences attention which as time goes on gets shorter and more inattentive.

Artificial intelligence has been used to tailor content personalized to each individual and it continues to revolutionize the content that audience experience. This personalization creates a sort of echo chamber where peoples own believes are amplified and making audiences more unpredictable. Also audiences expectations can be influenced based on what content is being fed to them, making it more complex to satisfy audiences. 

Also, new technologies allows people to be more critical of content and share their opinions. They can interact with each other, and create content and fact check more information. People are more critical and hold media more accountable which makes audience reactions more unpredictable. 

Even with technology to help us understand audiences better, audiences have become more diverse, dynamic and less predictable. Even though we can track more data then before, the speed at which information spreads and trends makes it difficult to predict what audiences will focus their attention on next.