CRI 540 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Duncan J. Watts, Small Victories
18 Jan 2017
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As a result, sales often peak immediately after launch and then taper off quickly. A successful opening is critical: a failure to reach an acceptably high level of sales early on generally dooms a widely launched entertainment products. Hollywood event films are the best example of products launched this way. By contrast, the movies that fail to open well in their first week are immediately considered. Losers sociologist duncan watts found that social influence is a powerful force in markets for popular culture. People tend to want to listen to the same music that others listen to, read the same books and see the same movies. We repeatedly show a preference for popular products. The ultimate success of an entertainment product is extremely sensitive to the decisions of a few early-arriving individuals. The result is a cumulative- advantage process which helps explain the high unpredictability of the demand for popular culture goods.
