the Death of the Mass Market?

Timely articles today reflecting on a very real possibility: the end of the mass market. The author of the Long Tail article (his blog) we read for class - whose book on the subject comes out today - comments that today's mass media channels are being surpassed by the new, internet channel, which is full of niches - much as radio was passed by TV.

from CNNfn

The point is, mass culture isn't so mass anymore. Instead, culture is evolving into a "mass of niches." So, at least, says Chris Anderson, the editor-in-chief of Wired magazine, in "The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More" (Hyperion, $24.95).

While the author notes the delcine of mass journalism as an example of a bad effect, it's unclear where the settling point will be. One could argue that in a world of proliferation of niches, it's more important to assemble the targeted media you are interested in....

But as he says:

I never said they were. What is dead is the monopoly of the hit. For too long hits or products intended to be hits have had the stage to themselves, because only hit-centric companies had access to the retail channel and the retail channel only had room for best-sellers. But now blockbusters must share the stage with a million niche products, and this will lead to a very different marketplace. Let me explain:

As I see it, there are essentially three kinds of hits, which we can call Type 1,2, and 3:

"Top-down" hits created by the usual hit-making machine: major labels, major publishers, major studios, etc. Those fall into two categories:
Type 1: Authentic hits: products that are excellent and resonate with a broad audience (think anything from Coldplay to the World Cup). These start big and stay big.

Type 2: Synthetic hits: lame products that are marketed within an inch of their life, sucessfully getting lots of people to try them even though they're probably sorry they did. (think Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties). These start big but quickly plummet.
Type 3: "Bottoms-up" hits, that rise on word-of-mouth and grassroots support. (think Clap Your Hands Say Yeah or March of the Penguins). These start small and get big.
I think Type 1 hits will continue to do well. Type 3 hits will do even better, since the web is the greatest word-of-mouth amplifier ever created. But Type 2 hits will suffer, as consumers spread word of their suckitude faster than ever.

Bottom line: In a Long Tail world many top-down hits get smaller, but even more bottoms-up hits get bigger. It's not the end of the hit--it's the rise of a new kind of hit.

Frankly, I just support anyone who uses the word SUCKITUDE.