What is the result of the ever increasing sophistication and fragmentation of the market?

It means people have more varied interests, and events are increasingly harder to fill up as people have a thousand things to do, and so little time. Moreover, because of so many other choices, more people are less likely to suffer the inconvenience to go to yours.

Even the attraction of the world’s premiere olympic event was not attractive enough for people to go — people decided not to when faced with hassles of getting a visa etc.

Many times, we are confronted with events that seemingly have more people interested as usual, and we try our best to avoid a fill-up or standing room situation. But more often than not, the problem is the other way around — increasingly more empty seats.

Empty Seats at China’s Sellout Olympics

On Aug. 11 there were 20 competitions in 18 stadiums throughout China attended by 40,000 spectators, according to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG). Only two of stadiums were more than 90% full. Six of the venues were more than 80% full. More than half had at least 30% of seats empty.