Television comprises of many different programs which cover different genres and therefore can appeal to a mass audience. There is no specific leading program, they all are made for niche markets.
Through research, find out the proportion of media consumption for both niche and mainstream products. The products should be within the media form you have picked. You can use published data for sales figures.
There is an equal spread of viewers for both mainstream and niche television programmes. However, there are significantly more niche programmes than mainstream but each with less viewers due to their specific content.
Below is part of a table from the research board BARB on the weekly total viewing summary:
Are the figures for the niche products close to or higher than a particular mainstream product? If yes, then the 'Long Tail Theory' theory has been proven:
Although the mainstream channels do have a higher average amount of viewers per channel compared to the niche broadcasters. But as the niche broadcasters are vaster in numbers the total viewers add up to be similar to that of the mainstream channels. Long tail theory has been proven in this case as there is such a large number of niche channels the amount of viewers is larger than the mainstream viewers.
Long term theory states that the media market is lead by niche products rather than mainstream. Although mainstream does have a large effect on consumers, personal preference and choice are becoming a lot more relevant, especially with the development of web 2.0 and the internet.
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