Abstract
How powerful a role will the leading Internet portals have in the future control and distribution of content? The question is one that preoccupies many in the content production and distribution industries. Their view of content development, business strategy and the relationships with content owners will shape the broadband content ecosystem, and with it the future positioning and role of other broadband players, including telcos.
This report focuses on four of those players - AOL, Google, MSN and Yahoo! - which have built a global presence beyond their US roots.
Table of Contents
- Key messages
- The telco-portal partnership
- Changing fortunes of the Internet portal
- What content means to Internet players
- Individual Internet portals' approach to content
- Advertising: developing the central business model
- End-user revenues: nice to have but not expected
- Sourcing revenues from third parties
Table of figures
- Figure 1. Consumer portal roots
- Figure 2. Advertising as a percentage of revenues
- Figure 3. The role of content in the Internet portals' business model
- Figure 4. Key content initiatives
- Figure 5. Proportion of global online ad expenditure by ad format
- Figure 6. Overview of advertising activity
- Figure 7. The portals' intermediary role
