i guess it's somewhat ambiguous here, but "next-best" would be second-best, while "next best" means "future best"

At least in American English “next to best” would mean second whereas “next best thing” means something likely to be the best thing in the near future and it’s a very common idiom.

i am american and think "next best thing" means second best. maybe "next big thing" would be better but is a bit generic

How about “next favourite thing”

Do you not have sentence structures along the line of "I wanted the premium model but it was out of my budget so I went for the next best thing"?

I get we're trying to go for "next [best thing]" but yeah I (also UK) read it as "[next best] thing" and can't think of any examples where I'd read it as the former

I think you might be referring to the common american english idiom "next big thing", as "next best thing" means 2nd best in american english as well.

Note that "next bigGEST thing" also means the 2nd biggest thing.

This is the common usage in my experience (US).

To jump in on the confusion, I'm American and have seen it used both ways, completely dependent on context. When I read the original comment I understood it as 'next thing that we all think is best' rather than 'second best.'

But after reading the comments and thinking on it, I realize it's probably used more often in the context of 'second best.'

Another American here -- never heard "next best" meaning anything other than second-best to what you're currently looking at.

"Next big thing" is commonly used and unambiguously means what's intended here.

In American English "next best thing" means second best. It is used to suggest an alternative when you can't get what you want. "Don't have Coke, maybe get a Pepsi, it's the next best thing."

"Next big thing" means upcoming good thing.

I've seen it used both ways, "next best thing" is one of those phrases at least in American English that is highly context-dependent.

Which still makes it a bad choice for marketing copy.

They want something that isn't likely to be misinterpreted, and I've never seen that phrase used to mean "next big thing", only "second best".

As an American, I can't recall "The next best thing" ever meaning "second best' but rather the up and coming latest and greatest thing.

Big country though, could be a regional thing.

I immediately got it. Understanding that the typical reader in this space is generally atypical “find the next best thing” would likely mean "look here to find the thing that's better than the current best." I guess it largely depends on who your audience is.

It's not "(next best) thing", it's "next (best thing)". As in the best thing that is coming up next. Not the thing that is next-best.