I was watching a Youtuber named Yellowflash and he was talking about how Superman and Lois has better ratings than Batwoman and Supergirl despite that fact that Superman and Lois has never trended on Twitter and the other two shows have. He was making the point that twitter popularity doesn't equal actual popularity.
It made me wonder if there is a business term for what you see corporations doing by catering to mythical audiences like gaming or comic book companies who think that it is ok to insult their male (especially white males) fanbase because there is some magical group of female gamers that will make them money?
I guess another thing would be the whole "male gaze" thing. Feminists seem so upset by the fact that men like seeing an attractive woman. I mean it is no secret that an attractive male or female lead is an easy way to get at least a little interest from the opposite sex.
But is there an official term from what you see companies do by putting way too much stock in what is trending online?
Negligence.
It's really just that simple, these businesses have put the wrong people in the wrong positions, collecting bad data and making bad decisions. Eventually the market always selects for stupidity.
But here's the thing you have to understand this about the comics industry:
They were already dying. They've been dying for a long time, and its only because of consolidation and distribution monopolies that they've been able to hold on in the first place. They were in a position where doing nothing meant definitely dying eventually.
But it seems like comic books were much better in the past. But I get what you’re saying