Monday Note

Here’s the BFD: TV programs come as IP packets, just like any other Internet content. The results? Advertisers target me with unprecedented precision, TV finally becomes interactive, huge profits on the horizon. Is this another Web 3.0 pitch? No, your honor, let me explain. For this I start with a small epiphany. Two years ago, I buy one of the first Intel Mac Minis. This is a BYO deal, I find a no name keyboard and mouse in a closet and decide to use my brand new Sharp “Full HD” TV for the monitor. All I need is a DVI ti HDMI adapter in the back of the Mac and a HDMI cable to the TV. The Mac boots and sets itself up automagically to the TV’s resolution, 1920 by 1080. [I can proudly report it's also "possible" in Windows, this Mac also runs it, I did it and I have the new hair on my chest to prove it.] So what? Well, the Mac Mini is now on the Internet, I watch YouTube, Joost and others. With the browser in Full Screen mode, how do I know I’m watching the Net vs. cable TV? This is the future, the Internet devours TV.

With real IPTV in theory, the broadcaster knows my IP address, my ZIP code, my credit card number, what I was watching 10 mins ago or last night. Toyota sees Palo Alto proudly features the highest concentration of Prius on the planet, we’re the epicenter of the (caviar) Left Coast. The automaker also knows I owned two generations of Prii. As a result, the next isn’t for the humongous Tundra pickup truck. Instead, I get a very personalized offer to trade my German VC-mobile (they know, they have my DMV record) for the new high-end green-guilt (hybrid) Lexus 600h. Other exercises featuring teenagers or bored seniors are left to the reader’s imagination. One set-top box maker even floated the idea of adding a camera to their device, a “good” way to know who’s actually watching…

This is the advertiser’s green (money, not melting Greenland) dream. TV on IP protocols, as opposed to today’s airwaves or cable, gives a gold mine of information to the advertiser. And, for the viewer, we have more choices. It is now easy to respond to an offer, one click of the mouse/remote. Voting, menus of choices, candidates or pizza toppings, impulse purchases, multiple windows for the ADD-afflicted or the sports addict…

I wrote “in theory” above. Cable networks aren’t there yet but companies such as Comcast are furiously working with huge Cisco routers to deploy their own high-speed IP network. Today, they get no share of Internet advertising revenue. Tomorrow, their IPTV network gives them high-resolution user information and toll booths to convert it into a share of advertising spending. This is the end of the era of “dumb pipes” a France Telecom executive decried when he saw the Internet killing their obscenely (in more ways than one, they once were the largest pornographer in the Western world) profitable Minitel. And, speaking of phone companies: Will they compete with their own fiber network, or will they let the cable companies provide everything, VoIP, IPTV, Internet access. Actually, with an ultrafast IP network, there is no more “triple play”: Telephone, TV, Internet, it’s all IP packets. Still on theory: We The People better wake up and kick our bought and paid for legislators in the rear. Our private data are in play, we can’t let our solons sell us down the river again. At least, get us more “free” channels… – JLG

BFD: In VC parlance, Big Fundable Deal. You may replace Fundable with other F words.
BYO: Bring Your Own. As in BYOB, Bring Your Own Booze. Here it’s Bring Your Own keyboard, mouse and monitor.
IPTV: Television delivered with Internet Protocols (or Packets).
VoIP: Voice Over IP, voice, telephone connection, delivered with Internet Protocols (or Packets).

Related columns:

1. Learning from the Obama Internet machine TweetFrom the very beginning, the Obama campaign met the standards of modern entrepreneurship: a clear goal (get to the White House), a strong leader (Barack), a simple pitch (Change) — and it needed cash, lots of it. And, unlike the Iraq war, it had a preset deadline, the close of business Tuesday November 4th. Not [...]...
2. Google owns 69% of the internet advertising TweetHere is why Google was so eager to buy the ad-server company DoubleClick : their combined market share reaches 69% of unique visitors, according to Attributor, a start-up specialized in tracking monetization on the web (January numbers). The split gives 35% for Google itself and 34% for DoubleClick. And, if we measure by domains (instead [...]...
3. From superblog to “Internet newspaper”, the lessons of the Huffington Post TweetWhat’s so special about the Huffington Post? How come that what started as a political blog three years ago now epitomizes the “superblogs” threat to mainstream media? And, perhaps more important, what causes a blog to mutate into something now perceived as a mainstream media — and do the economics work? . From a content [...]...
4. March 11, 2008 : a new era in the internet advertising sector TweetThe European Union had the power to prevent Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick. Last week, the regulator unwittingly set a milestone in the history of the Internet. They greenlighted Google’s absolute supremacy over Internet advertising, a position comparable to Microsoft’s domination of PC operating systems, Windows, and applications, Office. To get a fresh read of the [...]...
5. google — It’s all about the physical internet, stupid TweetIn a nutshell, Google is fine, thanks. Last quarterly earning showed a revenue of $5.2bn for the first three months of 2008, a 42% increase compared to a year ago. And the operating income is cruising at $1.55bn, or 30% of the revenue. Going deeper into the financial statements give some clues about Google’s strategy [...]...