Web's Endgame

from the we'll-it's-content dept

Tue, Oct 3rd 2000 4:47pm — Ryan

It looks like this "The Street" author is a little sour about the fact that content isn�t making money on the web, prophesising that it's the end game for the net. How short sighted of this analyst, surely its more the fact that the web is only just being born. The real profits have yet to arrive due to the comparatively small number of people online (about 150 million) compared to the total global population of about 5 Billion. Adoption will occur and so will profits but this will only occur as the medium matures worldwide and not just in the US, there will of course be this difficult phase but I truly believe that the few companies that survive will become tomorrows profitable companies.

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Mike (profile), 3 Oct 2000 @ 5:01pm

Cramer's whining
That's not just "an analyst". That's Jim Cramer who's a professional stock market loud mouth and the founder of TheStreet.com. Anyway, we've already covered a lot of his viewpoints here on Techdirt, as he continues to only take the extreme views. I used to like his columns a lot in the past, but now they're just too much. He's been screaming about how the sky is falling for too long now, considering how long he was yelling about how the web was going to change everything.

The point that Cramer is missing in his analysis is that the web *is* a different medium for consumers as well. He goes about as if he's blaming his very readers for being greedy punks who are trying to steal from him. That's not the case. The fact is that people online understand the nature of info on the web, and that it doesn't cost any more (except bandwidth) to produce a copy for me or the next guy. That's not the case with a paper magazine. The economics are different. Yes, the original production costs are similar, but the marginal costs are very very different.

I'm not saying I know the answer on how to make money on the web, but I think Cramer is beating his head against the wrong wall.
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Ryan, 4 Oct 2000 @ 6:30am

Re: Cramer's whining
Cramer seems really bitter to because his idea didn't work out. He didn't understand the medium and so he seems to be blaming the net users for his mistakes (therefore his crappy attitude), the guys toast if he doesn't move on an keep trying for the next thing.
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