Fourth, if web sites are going to have any chance at all of surviving as ad vehicles, they aren't going to do it alone. Again, as I alluded to above, we are a fragmented society. It's no longer about demographics and hit TV shows. It's about birds of a feather flocking together for only a few moments at a time. The web is not a space where a whole bunch of folks lurk for hours on end.
Individuals hop all over the place, making it difficult for sites to target the same audience.
If sites can't become part of a larger media operation or demonstrate that they are a valuable part of the media mix beyond just a direct-response vehicle for the impulse purchaser, there won't be an industry of online media and advertising. The complete value of online advertising has yet to demonstrate itself. One of the things it needs to do is instigate the evolution that all media should be going through, which is to work in concert with other media to benefit the client rather than be an independent operation just selling space. To understand this fully, one must transcend from the duality of 'for' and 'against' into one organic unity which is without distinctions. Jim Meskauskas is the Chief Internet Strategist at Mediasmith Inc. , an integrated interactive media agency with offices in the San Francisco Bay area and New York City.