Diller's Short A-List Tail Theory

Posted on October 19, 2005

The USA Today reports that Barry Diller made a negative statement about mass user-created content like blogs, citizen journalism and vlogs. Diller indicated at a recent conference that there is a limited amount of talent out there to create popular media like hit shows and songs.

So imagine the chafing that went on when Diller sat on stage a couple weeks ago in front of about 1,000 tech types and dismissed the buzz that says user-generated content, blogs and other "people's media" are poised to push traditional media aside.
"There aren't that many people in that many closets who are really talented and can't find their way out," Diller said. "Making a television program or a movie or a song � there are going to be relatively few who do that because there's simply not enough talent. Maybe that's an utter birdbrained statement, but there you are � it's mine."
At that, Diller grinned broadly, and the techie crowd murmured that Diller was stuck in the past and utterly clueless.

There will always be individual actors, bloggers, singers, writers, etc. that are very talented and stand out. However, The Fast Company blog makes a great point that with today's technology "the little guys" can combine resources and group together to create a niche with a larger audience.

As with most things, I think the truth lies in the middle. Yes, Diller is right -- talent is rare, and when you marry it to new technologies, you've got something. But the fact that the end of the tail may be growing fatter suggests something else: those niche audiences are worth something too. Technology has enabled the little guys to connect with each other, find their audiences, and even make money. In fact, that's where the first revolution was -- eBay and Google aggregated the little guys, connected them, and monetized them. Last I heard, these were pretty valuable companies.