Doctor who notes and BARB analysis

Mainstream vs Niche

Mainstream - An audience that consumes a product that appeals to a wide range of groups and cultures.

Niche - The audience of a specialist interest media product that may only appeal to a small number of people or those who fall within a specific demographic profile (e.g. age, ethnicity)

The theory of the Long Tail is that our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of "hits" (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail. As the costs of production and distribution fall, especially online, there is now less need to lump products and consumers into one-size-fits-all containers. In an era without the constraints of physical shelf space and other bottlenecks of distribution, narrowly-targeted goods and services can be as economically attractive as mainstream fare.

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BARB stands for Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board. They gather viewing figures for all the major UK broadcasters such as BBC, ITV and Sky.

BARB data can then be used by television companies to assess how well a television series is performing – compared with previous series, for example, or with rival shows on other channels. 

Or it can be used to assess different actors performances for example with Doctor Who.