Source: Business Wire
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE) via NewsPage -- Why are many of America's
richest companies spending billions to construct an Information
Superhighway to your door?
Experts forecast interactive services and video-on-demand can never
generate enough revenue to justify the price to build and maintain the
electronic infrastructure.
So, with no immediate profit in sight, why are these companies willing
to foot the bill?
In "High Stakes in Cyberspace," airing Tuesday, Oct. 31, at 9 p.m., on
PBS (check local listings), FRONTLINE looks beyond the hype of
interactive networks to examine the social and cultural impacts of
cyber-commerce and to determine what big business has to gain.
Correspondent Robert Krulwich interviews the people usually in the
background of this story: the venture capitalists who sense a great
business opportunity; the software designers who are creating programs
for advertisers to reach specific consumers based on their known
activities; and the advertisers who hope to exploit this intimate
knowledge of consumer habits.
"One of the most remarkable facts about the Information Revolution is
the dramatic impact it will have on virtually every facet of our
lives, yet there is almost no discussion of what those changes will
mean," says producer Martin Koughan. "We may not become aware of the
seismic effects this revolution will have on commerce, jobs,
government, personal relationships and the like until after these
systems are in place."
The program examines how advertising revenue will make cyberspace a
powerful draw to the business world and how interactive computers will
provide advertisers with quick and accurate marketing information
directly from the consumer.
Until recently, only gross demographics highlighting trends have been
available to help sell products. Now, when America goes online,
marketers are able to keep track of the buying behaviors of individual
consumers. Consumers leave a digital footprint everywhere they go
online, enabling marketers to trace consumer attitudes, preferences
and buying habits like never before.
"If you connect through America Online, America Online knows
everything about you. Or Prodigy or CompuServe. Those guys know
basically everything," says Terry Myerson, whose company, Interse,
develops marketing software. "As the user interacts, we not only can
watch them to see what they're looking at, but how they are moving
through your sales cycle....We can watch this happen in real time if
you want, we can watch these customers move through your information."
Other companies are more direct, asking on-line users to supply
information on their preferences and habits before interacting with an
on-line site. Correspondent Krulwich visits the World Wide Web
homepage of Zima, a new beverage from the Coors Brewing Company. The
company has created "Tribe Z" -- an on-line "hangout" which uses hip
graphics and slang to attract Generation Xers. Before entering Tribe
Z, the on-line user provides Coors with information on their preferred
alcoholic beverage, their amount of consumption and their age, and
then is cleared to click and to surf through layers of
cyber-advertising. Word of "cool" websites spreads like wildfire on
the Internet; the company hopes to become a cult favorite of young
on-line users, giving them an instantly accessible target population
at low cost.
But while companies are spending billions to secure their presence on
the superhighway, no one has made any real money yet. Last year, the
total value of all on-line transactions through the Internet was only
$40 million. Even if the market grows 2500%, it will still be less
than the value of the American blowdryer market. So, why the race to
settle cyberspace?
Many companies are fearful of the revolution happening around them,
worried that new technologies will crossover into their realm and
replace their core businesses -- especially if their core business is
information. Newspaper publishing is one industry trying to find a
place in this cyber-domain. In an effort to ensure its identity as an
information source, the Washington Post recently announced a new
on-line life-style magazine, Digital Ink, which will serve as a
resource for restaurant, museum and entertainment information as well
as a digital classified page. The paper is clearly taking advantage of
the new technology to provide a service, but it provides it with the
knowledge that if it doesn't do it, someone else will.
"It's clear that this [information superhighway] opens up exciting new
possibilities. It's also quite unclear what is going to happen in the
next twenty years," says Donald Graham, publisher of the Washington
Post. "It's part defense and part opportunity if you look at it from
the newspaper's point of view."
In the new cyber-reality, companies fear a blurring of technologies
where phone companies can provide the same information newspapers now
provide, and television can replace telephone.
But there are those who worry about the societal implications of the
new cyber-reality.
"You don't get something for nothing, and there's a big price to be
paid in the information age, and one of those prices is privacy," says
Margie Wylie, an editor at Digital Media. "Think of the Information
Superhighway as being more like the sort of toll road where they not
only want your fifty cents, but they want to know what car you drive,
whether you fit the criteria, and whether or not you can get your car
on the road will really depend on the gatekeeper."
"High Stakes in Cyberspace" is produced by Martin Koughan and Frank
Koughan. The correspondent is Robert Krulwich. The senior producer for
FRONTLINE is Michael Sullivan.
FRONTLINE is produced by a consortium of public television stations:
WGBH Boston, WTVS Detroit, WPBT Miami, WNET New York, KCTS Seattle.
Funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting and public television viewers.
FRONTLINE is closed-captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers.
FRONTLINE press materials and comprehensive resources compiled for
this program can be accessed through the World Wide Web at
http://www.wgbh.org/frontline.
The executive producer for FRONTLINE is David Fanning.
CONTACT: Jim Bracciale, jim_bracciale@wgbh.org 617/783-3500 | Diane
Hebert, diane_hebert@wgbh.org | Eileen Warren, eileen_warren@wgbh.org
[10-25-95 at 17:23 EDT, Business Wire]
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