Life as a Dot on the Long Tail
Chris Yeh, nails the trend on whether the Internet will kill the old media star with the long tail of content. In short, it wont. But it will change the way media firms make their decisions away from corrupt bundled deals to more democratic, wisdom of the crowds, based approachs. That is, if you succeed online and prove yourself with a relatively small audience (< 100,000) then you will be given a chance in front of larger audience on Cable TV and then on larger broadcast networks. Which is a great thing.
The greatest gap of expectation despair though will be in those who think that the Internet will allow them to independently survive off of a small audience or make them famous. It most likely (99% probability) wont. Ad revenue will never grow to an amount where all but a few can survive off of online ad revenue.
But for budding filmakers or stand up comedians, the Internet will give them a chance to grab attention and place that chance in their self-controlled hands (rather than at the discretion of club owners or industry execs). But that will take nothing away from the landscape of competition, which will become even more brutal.
