The Search Industry Is A Media Model
We knew that eh.
There’s an interesting interview with Eric Schmidt by the LA Times. There’s some general fluff, and he’s not too willing to be drawn into a Microsoft vs Google debate, but he makes a few interesting points about the search industry and Google’s place within it.
Quick summary:
- The industry is going to develop as a partnering industry, not as a monopoly industry
- It’s better to think of Google as a technology company, than as a media company. 99% of our revenue is advertising-related
- We’re very analytical. We measure everything…
- You should never generalize from the one monopoly in your space. By definition, such generalizations are false. Because the path they took is not available to you.
Hmmm….I’m not sure that Google can’t be described as a media company on the basis they lead people to content, but don’t “produce” it. The content is collected and aggregated by Google, and then delivered to an audience. That’s pretty much what television stations do, isn’t it? Then they sell advertising around that content.
John Battelle comments along similar lines, and I agree with him. “No one is buying it”.
