The intended audience is an interesting one, as I think there isn't an audience thought of at all for most content. One thing that issxi engaging about Hive content is that almost everyone is interested I it, since they are all on Hive. That doesn't mean all of what gets created is engaging or useful, but it gives the idea of low-hanging fruit for a "creator" doing it for votes. What they actually want is to get paid, not engage with the audience, and it shows. In some ways it is like me looking at the salaries of the NBA and trying out for the team, regardless of my skill set.
Was talking to someone the other day about getting downvoted and they would prefer not to be in trending because it comes with the wrong type of publicity. I see it as a, comes with the territory, position. Be consistent, quality and build support - more people will dislike than like. This is the benefit of a stake-based system though, as getting zeroed by a single large stake or two, can be counteracted by many smaller stakes - if there is wide support.
This is one of the issues with that group recently, they don't actually have wide support, because almost no no one reads their content. What they have is a large delegation they use primarily on themselves - so they aren't likely to build staked support anyway.
But it is almost 3am and I might be off on a tangent :)
Yeah, what you said is something I touched on in my recent post; more people will not like or pay no attention than those who will look, and maybe enjoy. Happens everywhere, with everything. Walk down the sidewalk. Notice how most people walk past, not even saying hello. And that's normal. Pull out a guitar, start singing. Still, most walk past, even though some stopped. Of the group standing there only a few step forward and put money in the hat. That's life. Sometimes that 'few' though can be quite a few more than the one just down the street.
Now if that busker stops playing and starts yelling at the crowd, along with saying the street is broken; yeah that'll turn a lot of folks away. Again, that's life.
And yes 'that group' kind of gave themselves a wake up call. The arrogance there was about all that was left. Also wrecked themselves well off into the future, since the doom and gloom tactic, instilling fear in one another, forced many to dump and run. So now there's even less support, and that'll leave a longstanding impact. Some ran to other platforms, taking their bad attitudes and arrogance with them, so it's only a matter of time before that all implodes as well. That's life.