Comments on: Things we were told about online that were wrong

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 17:27:34 +0000

Also watch local web site ad rates grow with the audience. National video ad CPMs on major sites now beat TV ad CPMs. Eventually this will trickle down to local.

By: thedetroitchannel

thedetroitchannel — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 17:07:42 +0000

i disagree with #3 and #11.

businesses will buy ‘the net’ if you get the right businesses.

it seems foolish to go after the dozen or so local businesses that currently buy the bulk of your tv time and offer them the web at a cheaper rate. but bring in the legions of business owners who could never foot a tv budget and offer them a product they can work into their budget and watch the rev. grow.

of course, you’ll need to actually want the web to succeed, so the gorilla in the room will need to be fed.

By: !!!

!!! — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 16:45:45 +0000

I agree with #3 Tom. For our TV site this is truly the case. No one wants to recognize the gorilla in the room. Profit margins for the locals will never be the same. You can’t make up the difference.

By: Steve Safran

Steve Safran — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 11:25:50 +0000

To be fair, Barney, at the end of every year I run a list of “Things I got Seriously Wrong.” Feel free to search it out. I’m not 100% prescient. But on the big stuff, I sitll like our record.

By: Barney Lerten

Barney Lerten — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 04:01:52 +0000

How about another: “Lost Remote will never run a list of things they predicted/said that turned out to not happen (or at least not how/as fast as they predicted).” (Now watch, they probably DID that and I can’t recall it with my feeble gray cells.)

After all, NObody is 100 percent prescient. Are they?;-)

By: tdc

tdc — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 21:49:50 +0000

one overlooked:

“google will go public at $80 and fall from there”

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 21:06:33 +0000

Howard is right … I’ve been doing Internet news in some form or fashion since 1995 and people STILL call it New Media.

We need a ‘new’ name as New Media leaves a bad taste in your mouth like New Coke did, and the old timers here probably remember how well that fad went over.

By: Safran

Safran — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 20:42:02 +0000

Heard it myself.

By: Drew Robertson

Drew Robertson — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 20:30:58 +0000

I can’t believe anyone was this naive “The networks will never send programming directly to the audience and ignore the locals “.

By: Howard Owens

Howard Owens — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 18:59:17 +0000

Ah, this web thing is just a fad.

By: Tom Planchet

Tom Planchet — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 18:06:16 +0000

I agree with almost all of these except one…well, maybe it shouldn’t be that “no one will buy web advertising” to “almost no one will buy web advertising.”

I think the evidence shows that web sales of local sites are still a hard sell. I believe that most newspaper sites, even those with tremendous traffic, don’t come close to make up in $$$ what they are losing in decreased subscriptions and the decline in circulation and ad costs that go with them.

Everything else is right on the money.

By: M Gorman

M Gorman — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:57:44 +0000

Such as? Chances are, the nay-sayers will already know that. On the other hand, they may be surprised to see how much of this has come to pass.

By: Chip

Chip — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:35:55 +0000

How about a list of “nay”-said things that have proven to be rtue?