Meanwhile, search and directory players are now in direct competition with online aggregators, local and specialized content sites, and the many others that are threatening to usurp the traditional role of these services. Everyone knows there is going to be a shakeout in the entire Internet field, not just among the search and directory companies, and not just the little guys will be affected. Major billion dollar companies are risking their very existence on the outcome, and no one, and I mean no one, knows who the winners will be. This report does stick its neck out in one area. I'm not sure we will see the big shakeout in 1997.
Some providers find it difficult to survive.
The dream of developing new and fascinating web sites has been broken by the fact that there is not enough advertising money to maintain these sites. Some newspapers predict that the prospects for attracting advertising to Web pages will become even bleaker. It's the end of the beginning, the end of the very hyped, very heady first wave of the commercial Internet revolution. A shakeout in the Internet field is easy to predict. But nobody knows when and how this will happen.