Internet Ads Replacing Other Revenue/Advertising

A couple of interesting items in the news today. First of all, America Online has announced that starting today their service will be free of charge. Competition and increased revenue from internet ads are making this possible. As a user of AOL since March, 1995, I'm glad I can stop sending them money, but I'm concerned they may shut down altogether. As part of this change they're also cutting 5,000 jobs.

And Hugh Hewitt had this item from the subscriber side of the Wall Street Journal:

Foster's beer has decided to stop advertising on television in the U.S. and spend its entire American ad budget on Internet ads instead.

Foster's (It's Australian for beer, mates!) has always had interesting ads, but I can't blame them for dropping the TV side of their business. If someone wants to reach me with TV advertising, they better run the ad during KTLA's Prime News at 10pm because that's just about the only time I'm watching live TV. I'm a TiVo freak, and just about everything else I watch I've prerecorded.

This weekend, between the Truck Series, Busch Series and Nextel Cup Series, I'll probably record more than 12 hours of NASCAR racing, and when I watch it, I won't see a single commercial. I simply wave my magic TiVO wand and the commercials fast forward away. It's pure bliss.

Now, if we can just get the political campaign ads off the tube....