Where are the emerging advertising business models online (Internet)?
What coming trends do you think will be profitable from an advertising
sales strategy? Local online search engine advertising? Information
services? VOIP?
If you had 5-million dollars and a team of talented web designers and
database people and wanted to create a profitable online company of
ANY kind, what would it be and why? Please support with supporting
research.

Hi! Thanks for the question.

Based on a 2005 Gartner Study here is some of the most promising
trends that you will want to keep an eye on.

Gartner
http://www.gartner.com/press_releases/asset_134460_11.html 


I am providing here supporting documents to show that they indeed have
bright promise based on the forecasts from these articles.

1. Podcasting:

?Researchers at The Diffusion Group predicted this week that the US
podcast audience will climb from 840,000 in 2004 to 56 million by
2010.?

?Podcasting set to skyrocket?? By Alorie Gilbert
http://software.silicon.com/applications/0,39024653,39150127,00.htm 

2. Peer to Peer (P2P) voice over IP (VoIP)

?The revenue generated from consumer VoIP services remained relatively
small, at $220 million, but that is expected to change quickly.
TeleGeography forecasts annual VoIP revenue hitting $3 billion in two
years?

?Number of Internet-phone consumers soars? By Brian Bergstein
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/2005-08-17-voip-usage_x.htm?csp=15 

3. Desktop Search

?He added that desktop search offers an opportunity for companies to
gain greater traction with customers, who are then less likely to
switch from a program they have spent time customizing than they are
to switch from one search engine to another. "In Web search, it's
going to be really easy to always tab over to another search engine,"
he said. "In desktop search, I don't think anyone here is going to
want more than one indexer on their hard drive."?

?Desktop Search and Revenue Streams? by Julie Jette
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/pubitem.jhtml?id=4628&t=special_reports_convergence2005 


4. RSS

?Why should newspapers consider implementing an RSS feed? According to
Eric Bauer at the Boston Globe, ?... if you?re a newspaper site ... I
think news content is particularly well suited to RSS ... it auto
updates and ... it allows the user to sort of control the clutter.? In
addition, those papers that have launched feeds have seen an increase
in page views. Boston.com reported a 10-fold increase in traffic
within six months of implementing RSS, with the only marketing being
the RSS link on the home page.?

?Blogging, RSS and the Information Landscape: A Look at Online News?
by Kathy E. Gill
http://www-idl.hpl.hp.com/blogworkshop2005/gill.pdf 


5. Corporate Blogging

?So far the numbers of corporate blogs outside the IT and media
industries are quite small but the signs are there that corporate
blogging will increase enormously over the next few years. Companies
are increasingly recognizing the advertising, marketing and public
relations benefits of blogging. More politicians are blogging. New
consultancies have been established in recent months to work with
organizations that want to start blogging.?

?Blogging and the Cost of Content? by Trevor Cook
http://incsub.org/blogtalk/?page_id=42 

6. Wikis

?An example of a public wiki web site is Wikipedia, which is a
web-based, free-content encyclopedia written collaboratively by
volunteers. It has editions in approximately 200 different languages,
about 100 of which are active. Containing approximately 1.6 million
articles at present, this dynamic reference is one of the most popular
reference sites on the Internet, receiving around 60 million hits per
day.?

?Interactive Internet - Welcoming Wiki Technology? by Elizabeth Malloy
http://newsletter.blizzardinternet.com/InternetMarketingaugust2005.pdf 


Aside from the ones mentioned above by Gartner, I think online video
content will be of significance to advertisers in the years to come.
Currently, advertisers can already be seen in some online video
content from TV networks.

7. Online Video

?The annual value of Consumer Video Subscription Services delivered
over Internet Protocol networks will grow to $4.6 Billion (US) during
2008.?

?Consumer Video Subscription Services Over IP Networks? from In-Stat
http://www.instat.com/r/nrep/2004/IN0401192MB.htm 



Search terms used:
emerging online "business models" 2005

I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
                                                          
                              
Regards,                              
Easterangel-ga                              
Google Answers Researcher

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Request for Answer Clarification by jbbonfield-ga on 09 Sep 2005 22:24 PDT

You did a very nice job. Thank you. If you have the ability to cover
"Local online search engine advertising" or local directories online,
I'd appreciate it.

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Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 10 Sep 2005 02:12 PDT

Hi again!

I was able to find this tidbit for local search.

"Analysts say the local-search market is lucrative and relatively
untapped. Total sales of local online advertising is expected to grow
to $5 billion by 2009, with $3.4 billion of that from search engines,
the Kelsey Group forecast. That compares with $670 million in 2004,
with $162 million from search engines."

"MSN to offer local-search service"
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5754598.html  

I hope this will be of help.

Thanks!

Overall, a very nice job. I was satisfied. Jim Bonfield, Sacramento
Internet Marketing, www.eyeballfarm.com, www.leftbrainstudios.com