SimonWaldman.net

Well, of course not…frankly we’d be a rather unambitious industry if the total sum of our hopes and expectations was actually less than reality. While I contemplate the definitive epistle on the subject..

Maurice Levy of Publicis in the FT warns that there isn’t going to be enough to go round.

“It’s exactly the same situation as we saw at the end of the 1990s, when everyone thought that because he had a website he’d get the valuation. Now everyone building a Web 2.0 operation believes he will receive the advertising.”

Which echoes Steve Rubel’s words from a week or so ago: “Advertisers only you can save Web 2.0” aimed squarely at the start-up market.

However, just like Social Security won’t allow every baby born this year to retire in 2072, the harsh reality is that there will not be enough ad dollars to go around for everyone. For starters, advertisers have infinitely more choices on where and how to allocate the spend. More importantly, you’re wisely looking for ROI - scale, quality and performance. These are three qualities that many start-ups lack.

There was also a more detailed analysis of this from Reuters last month: “Ad dollars flood to the web, but will they go far enough“.

“Too much media depends on advertising as the only source of revenue. With new players from software makers to cable operators also trying to cash in, the dollars simply may not stretch far enough.

“I’m getting to the point where I feel like every answer to every business development pitch is ‘We’re going to be advertiser supported’,” said Beth Comstock, president of Integrated Media at NBC Universal.