(illo courtesy of Sifry, who presented this and more at Web 2.0)
Jason notes that of the top 100 sites on Technorati, just 16 are ad free.
As someone who has had a hand in this (at BB), I can only add that I hope we get this right. What do I mean by right? Well, that we pursue ads that are endemic and respectful of the conversation between author and audience. It’s early, very early, and many models will be tested and fail, and many “types” of sites will evolve. Net net, however, I very much believe that we’re well on our way to new, lightweight publishing models that point the way toward a very compelling future.
Oh, and of course, many of the most interesting sites are in the tail, as opposed to the top 100 (the head…).
Can you post a larger version of that chart? The labels on the Y-axis aren’t readable.
Sorry about that. But Dave’s site, linked in the main post, has the larger version.
It has donned on me after reading your musings on this thread.
Advertising IS content…or part of the content.
The New Yorker magazine would be a much less desirable read with “chuckee cheeze” or “clearacel” advertisments on every other page…but lookint at a new Tag-Heur or Piaget watch, or an Ironic comic knock off…probably sort of pleasurable.
And sometimes I actually buy a newspaper to look at the classified ads.
Thanks for making the connection clear.
The interesting question is whether the area under the long tail is actually bigger than that occupied by the top 100. If so the overall effect will be that lions share of the advertising revenue will be shared out (in perhaps tiny amounts) by thousands or millions of small bloggers and publishers
The New Yorker magazine would be a much less desirable read with “chuckee cheeze” or “clearacel” advertisments on every other page…but lookint at a new Tag-Heur or Piaget watch, or an Ironic comic knock off…probably sort of pleasurable.