June 13th, 2006
How Long Will It Take to Monetize MySpace?
TechCrunch has a summary of MySpace’s eye-popping page view and user numbers. MySpace is probably the most discussed online business alongside Google and Yahoo. But with Google and Yahoo, the talk revolves around BILLIONS of DOLLARS in highly profitable revenue. For MySpace the talk is never — even in News Corp’s earnings release — about dollars and cents.
How long will it take for News Corp to turn MySpace into a business as wildly profitable as it is widely used?
As with Web 1.0, the principal business strategy for Web 2.0 is to drive utilization and then figure out how to make money off of it.
Hey, it worked for Google — that means it will work for everyone else, right?
MySpace is the ultimate test of this strategy — and they don’t have an infinite amount of time to figure it out.
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just a reminder:
Amazon posts its first net profit January 2002
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-819688.html
Lots of folks thought they never would. There were death pools.
A key question to ask isn’t when MySpace will earn a profit - it’s how big is the overhead. They may have a team as small as Craigslist’s. It’s something to think about.
, ¡faltarÃÂa más! ¡ya estaban tardando en pedirlo!¿Ver tu TV, tus canales en casa de otro? Ya es posible, y algunos no les está haciendo ninguna gracia.Algunas estadÃÂsticas y pronósticos sobre el email.Más personas se preguntan como rentabilizarán MySpace.Yahoo! Respuestas - Interesante servicio, muy interesante, desde un punto de vista mejor que Google Answers.
MySpace is the ultimate test of this strategy  and they don’t have an infinite amount of time to figure it out.
They may not have an infinite amount of time to figure it out, but I’m betting that having all of the resources of News Corp behind them gives them a pretty big cushion to rest on.
Karl, you’re absolutely right that low overhead will allow them to avoid the profit problems that Amazon has. But the challenge still remains that topline revenue is nowhere near proportional to the magnitude of usage and hype.
Kurt, I don’t think that corporate “resources” convey any advantage in this new media landscape — the playing field has been leveled. And as Karl pointed out, low overhead means that it’s a lot easier to keep the lights on without draining a large corporate bank account.
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