Granted, the current view is dim. Part of the drying-up, Kelly and other industry analysts say, is a result of unrealistic expectations of advertising revenue, audience share and investment returns. It made it difficult for people doing legitimate things and building a legitimate business. But Michael Aldridge, lead product manager at Microsoft's Windows Digital Media Group, says it may be time for consumers to update their assessment of the streaming format. Bandwidth is getting cheaper, the technology is improving.
Current research suggests other reasons for streaming firms to smile.
Kelly says this demographic is 50 percent more likely to consume rich-media content than analog modem users. These are the kinds of New Economy growth figures that should have rich media firms drooling over their servers. Despite those uplifting numbers, the challenge for streaming firms remains how to hang on while the market matures to a profit-generating state. For RealNetworks and Micro soft, the game plan is to keep battling each other for market share. Each company claims victory, but Jupiter's numbers show Real Networks as the leader, with 30.7 percent of all Internet users running Real Player, while 26.4 percent use Windows Media Player.