I've had a TechCrunch piece floating around in my head for a couple of weeks now, and it hit me today just what impact it could have on business that rely on any type of revenue from Internet advertising. The piece, by Eric Clemons, is Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet.

Clemons is Professor of Operations and Information Management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He seems to think that advertising in general is failing as a revenue model for all media. But it is least effective online.

Pushing a message at a potential customer when it has not been requested and when the consumer is in the midst of something else on the net, will fail as a major revenue source for most internet sites. This is particularly true when the consumer knows that the sponsor of the ad has paid to have this information, which was verified by no one, thrust at him. The net will find monetization models and these will be different from the advertising models used by mass media…

It's an interesting article. If your business generates part of its revenue by selling ads, it's a thought-provoking article.

How long can advertising bankroll the Internet?
© AMagill