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The Long Tail

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The theory of the Long Tail is that our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of "hits" (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail.

As the costs of production and distribution fall, especially online, there is now less need to lump products and consumers into one-size-fits-all containers.

In an era without the constraints of physical shelf space and other bottlenecks of distribution, narrowly-target goods and services can be as economically attractive as mainstream fare.

My Top Five

Long Tail 101
Our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of "hits" (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail.
The Four Forces of the Long Tail
There are four ascendant forces that are creating an era of Long Tails.
Filters 101
I haven't seen a good taxonomy of filter types. I'll lay out a first pass at a family tree.
Revisiting the 80/20 Rule
The 80/20 rule is one of those phrases that means pretty much whatever you want it to mean.
Can Niches Be More Profitable Than Hits?
In Long Tail markets, where the costs of shelf space are very low, the niches have the same costs as the hits, and potentially the same profit margins.

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by

canderson

I'm Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine. I wrote The Long Tail, which first appeared in Wired in October 2004 and will become a book, pu... more »

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