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1
Internet platforms &
Diversity of Cultural Expressions
To the Long Tail… and beyond!
Heritiana Ranaivoson, iMinds-SMIT (VUB)
[email protected] Jornada Diversidade Cultural e Novas Tecnologias, 19.05.2016
2
Introduction
• Strong impact of digitisation on cultural sectors
• Among the first sectors impacted
• A reconfiguration of the cultural industries’ value networks (Ballon et
al, 2012) with advent of online platforms
• Which impact on the diversity of cultural expressions?
• Crucial to build policies
• Requires tools for measuring
3
More
Disparity
More
Variety
More
Balance
Methodology
• Literature review on papers
assessing online DCE
• Impact of online
platforms
• Reframe of the theory of
the Long Tail (Anderson, 2004)
• Using Stirling model
• Distinguishing between supplied
and consumed diversities
Stirling definition of diversity
4
Theories of Superstars
• Why is consumption focused on a restricted number of products or
creators (Superstars)?
• Rosen (1981)
• Distribution and consumption technologies rely on low marginal
costs
• Adler (1985)
• Need on the part of consumers to consume the same art that
others do
• The most famous creators or products are advantaged, and this
is a self-reinforcing feature
5
The Long Tail
• The Long Tail consists in two
trends
• Decreasing importance
of Superstars
• Increase of the Tail
• Why a Long Tail?
• Democratization of production means
• Reduction in costs to access content
• Possibility to group enough consumers to create market niches
of a sufficient size
• Relevant filters to help consumers find what is likely to please
them
So
urc
e: A
nd
ers
on
(2
00
6)
6
The impact of the Long Tail
• Much larger choice for consumers
• Constant emergence of new services relying on innovative business
models
• The greatest beneficiaries are online platforms
• Intermediaries between different types of users
• Diversified offer
• Negative impact on traditional intermediaries
• A positive but limited impact on creators
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Does the Long Tail exist?Article Sectors Country Supplied / Consumed Stirling definition Long Tail effect?
Anderson (2006) music, video, book US S&C V, B +
Bear Sterns (2007) TV US C B +
Benghozi (2008) DVD, CD France C V, B +
Benghozi & Benhamou (2008) CD, DVD France S&C V, B +
Bourreau et al. (2011) Recorded music France S&C V, B, D +
Brynjolfsson et al. (2011) feminine clothes US C B +
Elberse (2008) music US S&C V, B +/-
Elberse & Oberholzer-Gee (2006) video US S&C V, B +/-
Given & McCutcheon (2014) DVD, books Australia S&C V, B +/-
Goel et al. (2010)movies, music, Web search & browsing n/a C B +
Hinz et al. (2011)VOD (transactional) Germany S&C V, B +/-
Kumar et al. (2011) motion picture US C B +
Leskovec et al. (2007) book, DVD US C B +
Marcone (2010) music (Billboard data) US C B -
Moreau & Peltier (2011) books France S&C V, B +
Mulligan (2014)Music (on- and offline) US S&C V, B -
Page & Garland (2009) Music UK C B -
Peltier & Moreau (2012)book France C B +
Smyrnaios et al. (2010)online news FR (French-speaking) S V, B -
Tan et al. (2015) movie rental US S&C V, B -
Walls (2010) DVD North America C B +
9
An increase of supplied diversity?
• Yes, say Long Tail and Superstars
• Digital technologies have expanded the
variety of products that can be
profitably made available (Brynjolfsson et al.
2010)
• More disparity (e.g. from all over the
world)
• However, difficult to assess whether
online supply is more balanced
• Opposite predictions regarding the impact on consumed diversity
So
urc
e: M
asn
ick
& H
o (
20
14
)
10
Do consumers as a whole like
diversity? • No, says Superstars
• Yes, says Long Tail, i.e.
• People have different tastes
• Each individual likes diversity
• A larger product variety may satisfy heterogeneous consumers’
increasingly varying tastes (Tan et al., 2015)
11
Technology drives costs down
• Yes, this is important, say both Anderson (2006) and Rosen (1981)
• Just what the Internet does
• Technology may create incentives to disproportionately promote
Superstars (Brynjolfsson et al. 2010)
• The costs of producing original content may remain high
• On the contrary such reduction may benefit above all to the works in
the Tail (Anderson, 2006)
• Storage and distribution are made easier
12
Accessing to information
• Yes, this is important, say both Anderson (2006) and Adler (1985)
• Digital technology provides access to a virtually unlimited
amount of information
• A strategy for users can be to go for Superstars to make choice less
risky
• For Anderson (2006) impact on the Tail
• More difficult to get information offline
• Decentralised prescription and promotion
13
Computing information
• How does digital technology allow us to get information?
• Filters can lead consumers to either the
Superstars or the Tail
• Search functionalities can lead to a shift in
demand from blockbusters to niches (Hinz et al. 2011)
• Systems based on recommendations may shift
demand from niches to blockbusters (Hinz et al. 2011; Tan et al., 2015)
14
The measurement of the
Long Tail and its limitations• ≠ ways to define and measure the Long
Tail (Brynjolfsson et al., 2010)
• The Absolute Long Tail measures
changes in the number of products
sold
• The Relative Long Tail focuses on the
relative share of sales above or below
a certain rank
• ≠ approaches may lead to ≠ results
• None of these approaches however
takes disparity into account
Example of Absolute LT
(Brynjolfsson et al, 2003)
Example of Relative LT
(Walls, 2010)
15
Considering the role of platforms
• Online platforms reconfigure cultural sectors
• Mediating between different categories of users
• Incited to provide a huge diversity of products as it gives them a
competitive advantage towards their competitors (Brynjolfsson et al. 2010)
• But they tend to replace traditional intermediaries
• Long-term impact difficult to assess
16
Conclusion
• Interesting stream of literature to address the impact of online platforms
on the diversity of cultural expressions
• Based on the Long Tail (vs Superstars)
• Need to consider
• The width of choices available to citizens and how it impacts their
consumption decisions (disparity)
• The relationships between diversity and industrial reconfigurations
now taking place
• UIS
• Monitoring of diversity of feature films. How about going digital?
• Cf. UNESCO Expert Group on the Statistical measurement of the
diversity of cultural expressions