Content May Not Be King Online

Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser suggested that content may not be king on the Internet as he launched coverage of Internet advertising companies.

"On the Web, the argument content is king is difficult, if not impossible, to make in the long-run, in our opinion," he wrote in a report entitled "Internet Advertising: Content Passes The Crown," taking issue with an old industry mantra. "What is important are infrastructure, platforms and tools controlled by Google, Facebook and others." Overall, he argued that "king content [has been] usurped" by those other important factors in the Web age. Describing winning companies in that context, Wieser said "winners take most." He sees three characteristics of successful Web businesses: "best-in-class provision of ad buying infrastructure, such as repositories of data and related technologies, and tools which support efficient use of the Internet by marketers; best-in-class ad sales infrastructure; and the ability to be "the hub of users’ overall needs or the bulk of their needs from the Web."