[RebelBanker]

Betamax was a flop only in marketing.

Well it lost the "format war" to VHS, so people stopped making Beta tapes or players. I suppose you could argue that it was not really a flop, but was simply displaced by a similar product. I still remember 8-tracks, which were moderately successful for a while ;-)

[Publius Valerius]

so people stopped making Beta tapes or players

True in the mass market, not true with professionals. As the article alludes, Betamax, until very recently, was used by probably every single television studio in the country.

[Oztrich Boy]

Betamax was a flop only in marketing.

Betamax failed because it was not supported by the porn industry