Data Says Forget the “Long Tail” — Will We Still Be Chasing Blockbusters in 2050?

Anita Elberse Did the Research Anita Elberse studied sales in the media and entertainment industries to test the Blockbuster strategy — putting most resources behind a small number of products — against the Long Tail strategy — selling fewer units of a far-wider range of items (a lists too long for brick-and-mortar channels to inventory.) To find out, I investigated sales patterns in the music and home-video industries—two markets that Anderson and others frequently hold up as examples of the long-tail theory in action. Specifically, I reviewed sales data obtained from Nielsen VideoScan and Nielsen SoundScan, which monitor weekly purchases of videos and music through online and off-line retailers; from Quickflix, an Australian DVD-by-mail rental service; and from Rhapsody, an online music service that allows subscribers to... [read full story]