Prior to the introduction of Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), typical viewers would settle themselves in front of their television and wait for a desirable show to come on. Favorite shows were certainly targeted for viewing, but often viewers would just channel surf until they found something that captured their attention. Watching television was more or less a passive activity. 

Then came TIVO and their personal video recorder. With the introduction of PVRs/DVRs, viewers discovered that they no longer had to settle for what happened to be on when they happened to sit down in front of their TV. They discovered that they could capture the programming they particularly enjoyed and make it available for viewing when and how they wanted to watch it. Each viewer essentially became their own personal programming director; creating playlists that matched their unique interests and likes. 

Consider the success of YouTube; a format where people select not only the character of programming they want to watch they also select the individual clips. While some videos are watched by huge numbers of people, huge numbers of videos are watched by smaller, yet significant, numbers of viewers. Again, people make program choices based on their own particular niche interests. 

Of course there is a finite amount of programming that can be offered on any given system. A challenge still exists to offer the programming that will be enjoyed by the most viewers. This applies to niche programming as much as it does to mainstream programming. Eyeballs remain the key metric. However the concept of offering a broader scope of programming is still valid.

As the number of available channels grew and the diversity of programming expanded, the uniqueness of viewers' television experiences increased. People still shared affection for the most popular shows, but people also became more distinct in their program preferences. Even those without DVRs were able to pursue more diverse programs as the variety of programming increased. Unique interests could be pursued. Diverse programming covering topics ranging from knitting to mixed martial arts became popular television shows with a dedicated, though perhaps smaller, audience. This is niche programming. 

Modern viewers have the luxury of ignoring what does not interest them and obtaining and watching only that which does interest them. As people are diverse, their interests are likewise diverse. Networks and operators that can provide viewers their chosen unique style of programming obtain fiercely loyal customers. Viewers get what they want and have no reason to go elsewhere. But how does one meet the needs of so many diverse tastes? You have to offer diverse programming. You have to accommodate the viewers' niche cravings. 

The more diversity you offer, the more likely you are to appeal to a greater number of people; even if they are not all watching the same thing. Just do your best to make sure the niche programming you offer is the most desirable niche programming. 

The lesson is that viewers want and will select programming that meets their particular interests, or programming that matches their "niche." As the Telco architecture enables operators to offer a great number of channels, they are able to offer a greater variety of niche programming and therefore are better positioned to compete with alternative sources of programming. Content remains king and care must be taken to select content of high quality and desirability. But when making those evaluations, consider niche content and the audiences will bring you.