INFORMATION DISCOVERY AND THE LONG TAIL OF MOTION PICTURE CONTENT1.

MOTION picture industry; MOTION picture advertising; INFORMATION asymmetry; FILM box office revenue; WORD of mouth advertising; MOTION picture audiences

The paper researches the potential additional explanations for the concentration of motion pictures (movie) sales in small numbers by analyzing how incomplete information may effect or skew sales patterns. It analyzes word-of-mouth advertising and information spillover from pay-cable broadcasts as mechanisms of movie discovery, and estimated loss of sales due to incomplete information. The data suggest movie broadcasting via pay-cable channels as a source of exogenous shock to information availability, and suggests that the research contributes to the literature on how information channels may effect the assortment of products demanded in another channel.