You might be right.
Or I might be right.
I still have hard time believing people would pay to see "normal". People have always wanted to see something special, something out of this world. I can't remember any case where the less impressive and more easily achievable would have won the battle about peoples interest.
But that is the point, how can "twinks" such as bradley martin or jeff seid dwarf the BB pros in regards to media exposure and popularity if the freak factor was the only thing creating ticket sales? The smaller guys are the equivalent of the girl-next-door thing, people like to imagine that they would have a chance of attaining a similar build (and the accompanying success that comes with it in regards to girls, money, fame). A guy like Jeff Seid is easier to relate to as he's young, have similar interests to to his fans (gaming, goofing around like kids do and such). Compare that to the dead face of some of the ifbb heavyweight pros, talking in a monotonous tone about steamed vegetables and strict protocols for growth. You can only talk so much about boiled chicken and concentration curls for biceps before it gets boring. One has an increasing growth in he industry, the other is inching forwards in comparison. The industry failed to realise the potential market of the younger people and got punished severely for this, as these no-name physique guys basically devoured the entire sector and have an oligopoly grip on that demographic.
There is a lot of turmoil in the market since these social media guys started to become a large part of the industry sector. Long gone are those days of the media being controlled by a few major names (like MD), now everything is out there and basically anyone with a camera and some social media accounts can make a name for themselves if their content is of interest. Everyone and their grandmother has a clothing line and a supplement line. Having things like that was basically unheard of if you weren't an industry giant just 10 years ago. Just look at that vegan gains guy, he grew exponentially and can now live off his social media just by posting vids using scientific articles to debunk broscience and bogus claims. Same with Rich Piana who got so famous just by "keeping it real". Just 5-10 years ago, these guys wouldn't even have had a platform to use and now they have their own production line of articles. The market is in turmoil as it's adjusting to these changes, which is for the better as an open market creates harder competition and a strain on the industry giants who grew complacent with time.