Article in todays FP!! This is getting interesting!! Cheers!!!
Consumers may soon turn off TVs and tune in to PCs
Burgeoning market: Significant impact on advertising and content producing industries
David Akin
Financial Post
Interactive Web programming that takes advantage of new high-speed Internet lines could soon prompt millions of consumers to turn off their TVs and turn on their PCs, according to a report released yesterday.
And such a shift would have significant implications for advertisers and the online-content creation industry.
The report -- by Forrester Research Inc., a Cambridge, Mass., consulting group that specializes in the Internet, e-commerce, computer and telecommunication industries -- claims by 2003 more than 26 million households, or one-third the online population, in North America will have broadband services, a term used to describe Internet access at high speeds, usually one-megabit per second or better.
One million North American households have broadband access now, most using a cable modem.
As millions of consumers turn to their PCs to get the rich programming they get on their televisions, large media firms may see their top talent leave to join "a burgeoning market of startup entertainment architects, similar to the Web developers that arose in 1996," wrote Mark Hardie, a senior analyst with Forrester.
Mr. Hardie predicts advertising, rather than subscriptions or transaction fees, will be the dominant revenue model for broadband content, but advertisers and Web site operators must first agree on new ways to measure online audiences.
"With consumers in control over what products they pay attention to, advertisers will reward content providers for audiences that pass through interactive back doors and lead to a richer product experience," Mr. Hardie said.
He said interactive experiences sponsored by advertising will become commonplace by 2002.
Later this year though, such startups as Robocast Inc. of New York and Genex Interactive of Los Angeles as well as tiny broadband content creation firms run by film school grads and multimedia artists will put the first interactive Internet episodes online for as little as $100,000 an episode.
Consumers will quickly want more, drawing in companies, like Disney or Warner Brothers, that can spend millions of dollars developing sophisticated interactive Web content and draw the industry's top talent.
Because of the resources required to develop rich broadband content that can attract large advertising buys, small Web firms will find it harder to compete.
"Low-budget broadband will struggle to reach a large audience against cash-rich competition at the high end," Mr. Hardie said. "The experiences of grassroots music sites like GoodNoise or MP3.com and amateur adult sites like JenniCam.org will encourage low-end aggregators. Here, fledgling talent will showcase their skills hoping for a professional opportunity."
|
