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Technology Stocks : Netzero - A Nationwide Advertiser Supported ISP
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To: Nicholas Thompson who wrote (16)4/5/1999 10:52:00 PM
From: Bill Fischofer  Read Replies (1) of 61
 
Re: Users

I think you greatly overestimate the average AOL user. Those who use AOL as an ISP have no idea what the internet is and AOL likes it that way and works very hard to maintain that ignorance. Obviously they are very successful at it judging by their stock price. I see zero possibility of defections from this class of user.

And yes, out of curiosity I spent a few minutes at dejanews and immediately found that there is quite a cottage industry devoted to freeloading NetZero accounts. While this may be viewed as "flattery" by some, if I were NetZero I'd be concerned.

My personal belief is that the net will ultimately undermine the current Madison Avenue advertising establishment because they are still viewing the net as just a new "channel" to which they can pump familiar TV-style in-your-face advertising to a new class of couch potato. Current ad-supported net companies are "succeeding" because they are in effect ripping off advertisers who still have no way to measure the effectiveness of their messages but who fear to be "left out" of something big. So they'll continue to throw millions of dollars down the net ad rathole for a while longer.

The reason that the fiction will continue is that just as most AOL users haven't figured out that they can turn off popup ads, most web surfers haven't yet realized that all web-based advertising is optional and can be eliminated very simply. Perhaps because I've been surfing ad-free for the past 8 months I find NetZero's ads especially jarring.
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