While search is the rage these days, Yahoo!'s COO reminded an Advertising Week 2005 audience that 45 percent of all Internet activity is focused on some form of communication. While Yahoo! keeps working to reinvigorate its search features, Dan Rosensweig said, the fastest growing segment of time spent online is occupied by those consuming entertainment and media.
The challenge for companies like Yahoo! -- which has been focusing additional attention on creating original content -- is to meet the varying needs of users who have been transformed from "mass media to my media," he said. Rosensweig added, "The reason everybody is so scared is because we are no longer in control over programming." Yet the opportunities outweigh the challenges, Rosensweig said, adding: "We can create relationships with large groups of people in almost every demographic that we want to, in the environments that they prefer and they create."
The challenge for companies like Yahoo! -- which has been focusing additional attention on creating original content -- is to meet the varying needs of users who have been transformed from "mass media to my media," he said. Rosensweig added, "The reason everybody is so scared is because we are no longer in control over programming." Yet the opportunities outweigh the challenges, Rosensweig said, adding: "We can create relationships with large groups of people in almost every demographic that we want to, in the environments that they prefer and they create."