The Other 90 ...

So, as I often do on Friday afternoons, I spent awhile trying to catch up on some of the more interesting articles and news bytes that I 'star' in my Google Reader. This allows me some time to clean house before the weekend and gives me some inspirational business ideas that I may be able to apply.

While I may not be ahead of the curve, I at least try to stay within it so I know where it's going.

Anyway, I was reading this. Which prompted me to do a search and I found this. and this. Now as I often do I started putting things together to see if they fit. Sometimes they do - sometimes they don't. But for me, it always leads to interesting questions.

So - if Polak is correct and “Ninety percent of the world’s designers spend all their time working on solutions to the problems of the richest 10 percent of the world’s customers."

And if Joy Marcus is correct and "We’re seeing a lot of people moving from high-level, squeaky clean Hollywood stuff to more gritty “Pro-tail” stuff, which is semi-professional, long-tail content."

And if Iger is correct in his figures: "Iger opened by mentioning that TV took thirteen years to reach 50 million people. It took Facebook nine months to get 100 million members. 400 million videos were streamed on Hulu last month. YouTube offers more than 100 million videos... "

Are we seeing the trend toward media for the other 90%? Are the movies and TV shows geared toward just 'the rich?' Is that why we're seeing more and more consumers going online to consume "Pro- tail" content? What does media for the other 90% look like?

• Where does that media come from? - From us, obviously.All kinds.
  

• How is it built? - as cheaply as possible (open source production?) . "It" in this instance being the production, marketing and distribution apparatus in order to get product to consumer.(See Netbooks)
  

• What does that mean in terms of production, distribution, cast, crew, etc...?
  

1. Production and development would be dependent on the tech involved. Thankfully it is getting cheaper and cheaper to attain a higher quality product.
2. Distribution is to the masses outside the theater system who can't afford high ticket prices (or cable, or Netflix fees, or BB fees. See: Redbox, Internet, Other TBD)
   
3. Cast would be new. No names. You make names. Story is the star.
   
4. Crew minimal as possible.
   

• How does the 90% support it (and you)?
  

1. By tying the media to a low cost - high volume product already in use by the 90.
2. By keep the sales volume high and margins low.
3. By making it so accessible it's too easy to get. Free even.

Things to think about. Especially in light of articles like this.

Edit to add: No sooner do I post this up than I read this from Cousin Trevor :

"Jim Jarmusch once told me “Fast, Cheap, and Good… pick two. If it’s fast and cheap it wont be good. If it’s cheap and good it won’t be fast. If it’s fast and good it wont be cheap.” Fast, cheap and good… pick (2) words to live by." -- Tom Waits