
Analysis of three ways to build an online media business to $50m in revenues - jeremyliew
http://lsvp.wordpress.com/2007/02/26/three-ways-to-build-an-online-media-business-to-50m-in-revenue/
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Alex3917
Nice article Jeremy. My answer though is none of the above.

First, most social networks make just as much money off selling data as they
do from ads.

Second, all the ads you mention fall into the same category. That is, the
product being advertised potentially creates value for the user. So basically
the user has to click on the link and buy the product.

The most profitable advertising is the type where the ad itself creates value
for the user, in addition to the product being advertised. For example, music
videos on MTV.

Unfortunately all of the social networks in existence today are monetized
under the traditional model.

The startup I'm currently working on (kitchen table phase) is a social
networking thing that actually allows users to manipulate advertising
spatially in three dimensions. Of course the user's perspective is completely
different, all they see is how the website makes their life easier (and gets
them laid) and not how its being monetized.

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immad
When you have a lot of committed users that frequent its always possible to
come up with strategies that dont involve just the normal advertising
channels. e.g. suicidegirls sells branded merchandise and bebo is getting into
parnerships with amazon and ebay. So this article is a bit simplistic and I
think you could make $50m revenues with a lot less users than it dictates.

