ABSTRACT
The previous chapters on the traditional media industries have refrained from projections about growth rates of advertising, circulation, viewership, or whatever. The online industry, particularly as a consumer medium, however, does not have the history and maturity that even the cable industry had in 1999. Although the basic Internet dates to 1968, its use as a popular medium for news, entertainment and information dates to 1994 with the introduction of the graphical browser from Netscape. Thus, at the time of this writing, the Internet and its components were at a very early stage of growth: perhaps comparable to broadcast television in the 1950s. As with TV, there is every reason to expect that online information will become cheap, ubiquitous and popular. But as with the TV industry in the early 1950s—when TV screens were small, black and white and expensive, and when installing one with an antenna outside required some degree of aptitude or hiring a technician—the online industry in 1999 will probably look rather primitive in a few decades.
