Exploring Maximum Exposure Media Outlets

Some months ago, Nielsen released a study in which they asked music ‘industry experts’ their opinions on what the most influential media outlets are. To arrive at their findings, they regressed the ‘influence’ score given by industry experts for various TV shows and websites against the average audience size for the given media outlet, and any show or website that scored higher than the expected average was deemed influential. Unsurprising findings include One Tree Hill, Gossip Girls and The Hills as the most valuable programs for sync placements, and Pitchfork.com as the most influential website.

When it comes to TV hosts, while we would expect to find Oprah at the top of the list, even she was outranked by Jimmy Kimmel. According to Nielsen, “Jimmy Kimmel’s high ratings, relative to his audience size might be in part due to his unique brand of music marketing. While the Today Show and others target more well known acts, Kimmel’s artists tend to frequently be off the beaten path.” The study concludes that “Smart labels or managers should understand programs/sites like Kimmel Live!, One Tree Hill, and Pitchfork.com have a certain something special that should be considered.”

It is an interesting finding, but one that I am uncertain about. Nielsen seems to be perpetuating the idea that the music industry should continue to chase after the most influential and bigger media outlets (in terms of audience size). But if musical interests are becoming increasingly segmented, as the Long Tail theory argues, should the music industry not also expand marketing strategies to incorporate our increasingly diverse musical tastes? Perhaps moving forward record labels should invest more energy in not only chasing the ‘big’, but also chasing the ‘smaller but influential’.