Quote:
Originally Posted by darryl
No doubt there are other factors?
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One more I can think of: shelf space.
Physical stores could only stock so many movies and only so many copies of each. So, not only did the top 100 titles make up a bigger fraction of the store catalog, the odds of finding an available copy were higher. Especially new releases.
Online they not only carry more titles, there is no zero-sum competition for a specific movie if suddenly the entire country decides to watch the original GHOSTBUSTERS at the same time.
We see this playing out in books and especially ebooks.
A previously obscure title is suddenly in demand. Newstands and indie stores don't have it. B&N might have one copy per store. Amazon might have a thousand. But Kindle (and maybe Apple and Kobo) has an infinite number to sell. For instant delivery.
Of course, eyeball hours are finite. With a greater variety of "lesser" product to consume, the attention paid to the favored of B&M declines. This too is happening in books.