That never did produce rain, but they clung to the ritual. "
Entries in The Long Tail (4)
Mark Cuban sends me email threatening mid-court brawl over Long Tail Theory.
OK. Mark didn't actually threaten to beat me up.
Mark Cuban post on the Long Tail, Vertramp and the Content Ceiling here.
I think trying to define where the Long Tail ends and the Vert Ramp begins is critical, because the fact of the matter is: No Content Creator wants to be on the Long Tail. Anyone who has ever created content realizes that there is a very thick bar a bit above the the base of the Vert Ramp that acts as a content ceiling (thanks to Oliver Luckett for the term). that they are desperately trying to break through in order to get off the long tail and on to the Vert Ramp.
The illustration reflects my horrendous paint skills, but illustrates the point.
I commented about small vertical niches in the tail as a place that had more value in some ways than the head. Mark sent me the following email.
You aren't long tail if you are the leader in you industry or niche. You price according to yr market. Long tail would be your competitor doing 10 readersHDNet
TV like you have never seen before
Www.hd.net
m"
(Glad to see Mark's pitching his HDTV in his signature.)
Never one to nitpick with someone who attacks adversaries on the court in front of cameras. (wink) I do think that there has to be some cutoff between the head and tail. Otherwise, everythings a hit. Mark suggests that with 5k readers I'm the market leader. Well... sort of. But I'd argue that I'm still in the tail. If I'm not in the tail then why isn't everything a hit. Almost anything can be hair-split into its own market. The Utah Jazz (Im in Park City) is the only NBA Team in UT. They have the highest ticket sales of any team in UT. Unfortunately, they're in the tail. (At least I think so, I'm a soccer fan and not a basketball one.)
Here's my point. The content I provide is not big enough to be a market on it's own. It's just a small vertical in the tail of a much larger market. But, If I move over the "content ceiling" and try to move into the head, my specialized content looses it's value.
Perhaps it's me that's splitting hairs but It's hard to envision the head being some tiny subset of users of a larger market.
Jeff Barson
in The Long Tail, Business Models, Business Blogging, My Network
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George Lucas buys into the Long Tail
Chewbacca and Jabba will no longer be banking on blockbusters.
"Lucas said he believes Americans are abandoning the moviegoing habit for good."
From the Long Tail Blog:
From the current issue of Variety:
"George Lucas has a message for studios that are cutting their slates and shifting toward big-budget tentpoles and franchises: You've got it all wrong. The creator of "Star Wars," which stamped the template for the franchise-tentpole film, says many small films and Web distribution are the future.
And in case anyone doubts he means it, Lucasfilm is getting out of the [theatrical-release] movie biz."We don't want to make movies. We're about to get into television. As far as Lucasfilm is concerned, we've moved away from the feature film thing because it's too expensive and it's too risky.
Spending $100 million on production costs and another $100 million on P&A makes no sense, he said. "For that same $200 million, I can make 50-60 two-hour movies. That's 120 hours as opposed to two hours. In the future market, that's where it's going to land, because it's going to be all pay-per-view and downloadable."
With more than 13000 movies submitted to just the Tribecca Film Festival and only 150 getting real distribution, that's good news for young filmmakers. Distribution will get easier.
But it's terrible news for advertisers. How will you target and deliver a consistant message if you don't have a big channel? It's the same problem that network televison is facing. See Judd Bagleys Connect article and graphs here.
So where is the paradigm shift? Technology allows more efficient markets and cheap and easy distribution. It is just a better system.
Niches more profitable than hits?
I posted about Nimbles Long Tail here.
I've been reading a lot about the Long Tail and came across this post describing how niche markets are actually more profitable than hits. From the LT Blog:
This Long Tail stuff is killer.
Jeff Barson
in The Long Tail, B2B, B2C, Business Models, Local Search & Markets
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Nimble's Long Tail
It's late and I have to drive up to Layton early tomorrow morning but now I'm wide awake. I often take an hour or so before I go to bed and read CNN.com and a number of blogs I've tagged on Del.ic.ious. Bloggers link a lot and I came upon a Long Tail post that led me to a number of other sites/blogs. Now I can't sleep. I've found the terminology that perfectly describes Nimbles business model. A model that I've struggled to be able to explain to small business owners and potential partners.
Nimble is an aggregator. That is, we're looking to become an aggregator... Taking all small business and building a marketplace that allows them to sell in real time no matter how small they are. Reading these Long Tail posts has really got me motivated.
I'm posting this as a placeholder while I take some time to think about this. Long Tail Baby.
Long Tail Links:
The Long Tail Blog
Wired Magazine Article by Chris Anderson (Coined the term)
The Long Tail on Wikipedia