There was a time before technology (yes, there was…) when media creatives, and programmers would try to program for the average because they were only a few channels that needed to appeal to a wide audience. The solution was to produce average content for the average viewer (…but what was average?). Now that content is cheaper to produce, and everyone has access to the distribution, specialized content and very niche targets appear to be emerging. Notice that these targets are not new, they were always there, and before technology there was not a way to measure their engagement, mainly because the content, and the distribution didn’t exist.
There is an old proverb that says that those who grasp all, lose all. A proverb that has aged very well, and that is now being backed up by Data. Media companies also turned their attention to this concept and started producing and developing more Vertical content (specialized), without abandoning their Horizontal (wide breadth of content) approach.
When you hit the right Vertical concept, and the right niche, is easier to monetize the content.
To no surprise, when it comes to marketing research analysis, marketers are happy when a clear trend, a narrow set of results comes back after conducting the study. Narrow results in the Data give marketers more confidence and trust in the tendencies.
Just like the marketing research quest for the most accurate representation, media and content producers are in search for that holistic Vertical content, that granular segment of the population that has the potential to transform into a super fan, an unpaid brand evangelist.
Narrow is better, and if you still ask why. Think that in both cases, wide is average; a wide audience is harder to please. A tendency is hard to discover when there is a wide range of numbers, and if you don’t have clear tendencies or a clear answer of what people like or dislike, most likely the solution will be to play it safe, and playing it safe in a market that has been transformed by technology will not give you leverage to stand above the rest.
STATUS: AVOIDING TO BITE OFF MORE THAN I CAN CHEW, AND TRYING TO SAVOR THE MOMENT, AS IF I’M WINE TASTING. NARROW IS BETTER, EVEN WHEN MAKING PERSONAL PLANS.
Tralala Media 