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It's because entertainer's product can be distributed to infinite numbers of people, each of whom have finite amounts of time. If I am going to spend 1 hour wat
by anbop 7y ago
It's because entertainer's product can be distributed to infinite numbers of people, each of whom have finite amounts of time. If I am going to spend 1 hour watching basketball, I am going to want to watch Lebron James. I'd rather pay $5 to watch a basketball game where he is playing vs. being paid $5 to watch a basketball game featuring absolutely excellent, but not world-class, players. I similarly am very discriminating about movies, music, etc. and will pay $6.99 to rent an Amazon movie vs. watching a free one on Prime because I have such limited movie-watching time. The rewards go to the top because the eyeballs go the top.
- nailer 7y ago> If I am going to spend 1 hour watching basketball, I am going to want to watch Lebron James. That's an excellent point. - Is acting ability as unevenly distributed as athletic ability? - Would Black Mirror be better if every episode had Jodie Foster or Jake Gyllenhaal in it? Or is it possible that using less well known actors would not negatively impact viewership?
- mettamage 7y agoWhether it is or isn't as unevenly distributed, popularity is! Popularity is a scale free network in fact. Simply check your Facebook friends (or that of your aunt if you don't have FB) and you're quite likely to see a couple of outliers. I thought about this quite deeply and researched it a bit during my graph theory & complex network classes. Whether it is routers redirecting traffic or popularity, it is all scale free (ok not everything is, but a lot of things are).
- nailer 7y agoGood point & totally agreed about popularity. People may want to see a TV show because someone popular is acting in it (using the Black Mirror example, Miley Cyrus was in an episode of the last season). I guess the question is: what value is popularity? If Miley Cyruses increase in cost doesn't warrant the increase in revenue, then it's not worth it. If it does then it is. It sounds like the market is re-calibrating a little.
- anbop 7y agoIf Black Mirror cut out name brand actors and retained their popularity, that means more money for the creators and less for the actors, but not any less for the show. As an aside, what a fucking incredible show that is. Mind bending shit.
- kop316 7y agoAs a counterpoint, a lot of folks are a fan of college football vs NFL. (excellent vs. world-class players). When it comes to going to sports, I actually really enjoy going to minor league sports games versus major league sports games.
- anbop 7y agoSure, there are things beyond absolute performance that can attract viewers. I would rather go to my son’s T-Ball game than the World Series.