Online Advertising Market Now Bigger Than Cable

For someone who sold one of the first (if not the first) interactive ad campaigns, this is big news. As an early evangelist of this new medium, to see advertisers and businesses embracing the medium and the ad dollars following consumer usage is a great sight to behold. To my fellow Redgate employees: If you remember in 1986 I said, ”In less than 25 years, 1 billion people would have an interactive connection; a new media company would become the biggest and most important media company; and interactive advertising would be the most important way marketers reach consumers.” Who knew how right we would be? 

If you remember 1986 was the year we launched Interactive News Networks and soon thereafter published our white paper called “New Rules – New Media”. To see online advertising now pass cable advertising in market size is remarkable.

Great News for Web Media Companies

The floodgates will now open. As I have been advocating and predicting, old media companies will now re-purpose their cash flow to buy new media companies again. This deal gives permission to newspaper companies – and broadcast companies - to park their cash into growth opportunities. CNet was the last big independent player of scale out there. Now traditional media companies will truly begin, in earnest, to roll up and consolidate and tuck in faster growing Web 2.0 media companies. This is a good move by CBS too. They have a money machine and can expand the revenues of the company. CNet was always an ITV company acting as a web company and they have a terrific publishing platform. Win/win situation here.