Asymmetric Attention Wars
Dylan Collins, on short-form video eating the world:
Like a lot of wars these days, the attention war is also asymmetric: drones (short-form video, UGC and AI gaming) versus lumbering tanks (major media conglomerates + things that look like them).
Emily Herrera explains the attention market they're fighting in:
Every time a user opens an application, refreshes a feed, performs a search, clicks a thumbnail, or scrolls past a post, a choice is being made.[...]
Each moment of choice determines where a finite unit of attention will be directed and which competing alternatives will be rejected.
In this sense, moments of choice function as the clearing mechanism of content markets.
[...]
A video does not need to be objectively valuable to receive attention. It just needs to be perceived as a better use of attention than the next available option.
The asymmetry is not just in what professional content costs to make. It's in how little commitment the alternative asks of the audience.
A thirty-minute show, a 500-page novel or returning to a AAA game all come with an opportunity cost. The feed feels free. It's immediate enough to shortcut allocation paralysis and inconsequential enough to avoid buyer's remorse.
A modern battle tank costs millions. To do its job, it has to get into the territory, past every obstacle and hit its precise target.
A kamikaze drone costs thousands. You fire them in the general direction, hundreds at a time, see what gets through and adjust the next wave.