1. BlockbustersNext question: Study the most recent annual USA Today best-seller list ... paying attention to the little descriptions of the books that follow the titles. What types of books are selling? Who's buying them? Do you see any surprises? (Hint: "Young adult" is the book industry's word for teenagers.) How many of the top-selling books are aimed at a niche market?
2. Audience fragmentation
3. The long tail
Necessary - and important - tangent: A niche market, according to Wikipedia, is "the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing; therefore the market niche defines the specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that is intended to impact." Let's boil that down a little. We're going to need to know how to use this language (in case it comes up on a test or something like that, if you get my drift). Original meaning of the word is a "curved space in a wall that is designed to hold a statue, vase, etc." If you've been up to the second floor of Brinkerhoff House, there's one above the staircase about halfway up. Link here to see one in Merrian-Webster's Learner's Dictionary ... and to suss out the other meanings. The way "niche" is used in the business world, it's about being in the right place at the right time ... as Merriam-Webster put it, being in a "situation in which a business's products or services can succeed by being sold to a particular kind or group of people." I'd say being in the right place at the right time with the right product.
With that in mind, let's go back to the USA Today best-seller list. What groups of people are represented here? OK, "young adults" or teenagers. Who else? How many titles would appeal mostly to women? To Republicans? Any other groups?
What John Vivian calls a "blockbuster" is a book aimed at a mass market. He mentions "Gone With the Wind," a wildly popular 1936 romance novel. He's right, and the 1939 movie version was, too. Starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, it was re-released in 1947, 1961, 1967, 1971, 1989, 1998 and 2007 and is "estimated to be the highest grossing film domestically of all time."
Other authors aim at a mass market with "mid-list" books - novels or non-fiction designed to have a general appeal to all kinds of readers. They aren't as successful as "blockbusters," as Vivian notes, but in the aggragate they make more money day in and day out. How many books in the USA Today best-seller list appear to be aimed at a mass market? There aren't many, but I think there are a few. Hint: Look for mysteries, action-adventure stories, general-interest novels and "how-to" books, i.e. books that show readers how to do something. Anything that looks like it would interest a variety of people from different groups or market segments.
How does audience fragmentation fit into the niche marketing picture? Vivian would say the long-term trend is toward fewer blockbusters like "Gone With the Wind" and more books aimed at niche markets. I think he's probably right, but Harry Potter comes pretty close!
Finally, at the end of the chapter Vivian cites a book called "The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More" by Chris Anderson. According to Wikipedia, the long tail is a mathematical concept that Anderson applied to mass communications and marketing. Here's the "money graf" in Wikipedia:
Anderson argues that products in low demand or that have a low sales volume can collectively make up a market share that rivals or exceeds the relatively few current bestsellers and blockbusters, if the store or distribution channel is large enough. Anderson cites earlier research by Erik Brynjolfsson, Yu (Jeffrey) Hu, and Michael D. Smith, that showed that a significant portion of Amazon.com's sales come from obscure books that are not available in brick-and-mortar stores. The Long Tail is a potential market and, as the examples illustrate, the distribution and sales channel opportunities created by the Internet often enable businesses to tap that market successfully.The questions:
An Amazon employee described the Long Tail as follows: "We sold more books today that didn't sell at all yesterday than we sold today of all the books that did sell yesterday."
How does the long tail theory fit in with niche marketing and the other concepts we look at in class Monday? Why might it be a good thing for people of your generation to be aware of as you choose careers and look for opportunities in the business world?
8 comments:
John Vivian describes blockbusters (bestsellers) as a slight obsession. Vivian also talks about audience frangmentation which is talking about how newpapers and other sources of such are going to die out due to readers. I know for a fact the Twilight Saga has to be at top of the best sellers list. It is aimed at a niche market. It is aimed at the tween stage and early 20's. However there are more then enough "cougars" who are helping this saga keep its post at the top sellers list.
Vivian states a blockbuster is the best seller and the one that makes the most money
Audience fragmentation- Newspapers are dying off because the mass market is no longer interested in it.
The books that are being sold the most seem to be the twilight series in the top 4. it is most read by teens, young adults, these book have been a phenomonon through the world.
Alot of these other books are targeted toward the woman or also some men, also some are for diets.
I think many of the books are sold to the mass market, they are toward young adults, women, men , something each person would like to read.
Where we are now in this world and about the aspects, we need to knowwhat our market is in the business that we are targeting.We have to have the right thought process in what we are doing and the business we run.
A "blockbuster" is a book aimed at a mass market. The twilight Saga is at the top of the best sellers list due to its niche or following. The saga was aimed at tweens, yet its following expanded to almost all age groups. Others on the best sellers list were some self-help books about love and God. Its important for us to no what the niche is for particular things inorder to properly choose what would best suit us or what would be best for a certain company.
Blockbusters: known to be the best seller. popular.
Audience Fragmentation: newspapers mostly are dying out. not as popular as they used to be.
We also talked about Stephanie Meyers and her Twilight series. Her four books were the top four out of 100. That is insane. These books are targeted towards a certain audience I believe, but many people that I didn't think would read them have. I didn't think I would like them but after reading the first one, I did.
John Vivian describes "blockbusters" as bestsellers. For example there is a book list of bestsellers. We took a look at these bestsellers and the top spots are taken over by the Twilight Series. Vivian also says that the generation today is not reading as much, but in fact isn't true. The young adults are the ones buying books.
A blockbuster is a bestseller book that pulls in alot of money to the publishing house. Audience fragmentation is a division of audiences into small groups due to the wide spectrum of media outlets. The long tail is that our economy is shifting away from on a relatively small number of hits at the head of the demand curve.
the twilight saga books are defintaley the top sellers. This book has a wide variety of buyers but mostly aimed at teens.
Vivan describes a blockbuster as a best seller or one that sells the most. Audience fragmentation talks about how newspaper are dying off slowly due to people not reading them anymore. The Twlight series is aimed at a niche market (teen- 20's) and is a best seller.
Post a Comment