Long live Online Adv!

From: Ramon Ray <ramon_at_smallbiztechnology.com>
Date: Fri 08 Jun 2001 12:03:19 -0500

Iconocast's latest newsletter was a breath of fresh air.
Of course, it's a biased newsletter and I would not
expect it to DOWN online advertising. But when Brill's
content recently had a piece about the growth of
"anit-online-advertising" software, Iconocast had a
very good rebutal - here's a few lines of it:

QUOTE:

  It was "deja-vu all over again" reading this
  month's (June 2001) Brill's Content, which featured
  a banner blocking article entitled "Subtracting the
  Ads." If writer John Ellis had done his research, he
  might have consulted our comments on Denise Caruso's
  July 19, 1999 New York Times piece, which discussed
  "a new genre of software" that "blocks ads entirely"
  (see ICONOCAST 22-Jul-99).

  Like Caruso, Ellis claims interMute, which markets a
  product called AdSubtract, will shift the "balance of
  power," because only advertising that users ask for
  will get through. Let's examine Ellis' arguments point
  by point:

  Installed base -- Ellis claims "consumers are
  increasingly saying 'enough is enough.'" He cites
  interMute's prediction that "AdSubtract will be on 5
  to 10 million PCs by the end of 2002." That works out
  to 1% to 2% of all Internet users, based on forecasts
  of 511 million total online users by the end of 2002.
  InterMute believes "three of the top 10 PC manufacturers"
  will soon be preinstalling the software on their new
  computers.

  In 1999, Caruso predicted "users would rather pay
  directly for services on the Internet than wade through
  advertising." Because we see few paying for anything
  these days, let's put that in the "everyone will be
  driving plastic cars" prediction dust bin.

END QUOTE

We can all clearly see that online users for the most part
DO NOT want to pay for content, but want and expect it all
to come for free. Those who produce content sites should
build up loyal audiences and sell advertising. IN ADDITION
to building additional revenue streams like workshops,
premium content and etc


Ramon Ray, Editor/Analyst
ramon_at_smallbiztechnology.com
Smallbiztechnology.com
http://www.smallbiztechnology.com

News and analysis for small businesses and
small business technology marketers



Received on Fri Jun 08 2001 - 12:03:19 CDT