ISPreview investigates how the Internet is turning more commercial

In among the chaos stood information sites, many of which rely on market stability in order to pay hosting and ISP bills, as well as subsidise the work they do. Such sites and information services help form the backbone of what the Internet is all about, free information, yet perhaps not for much longer.

It wasn't long before online advertising took the biggest hit it'd ever see since its inception all those years ago. Suddenly previously reliable investors were pulling out and by Christmas 2000 the income from e-commerce and online advertising fell by 99% in some places. Online advertising was hit the hardest.

What once was free is now..

The end result of all this is that many of the information sites you know and love have been operating at a loss, some near 100%. If you keep an eye on the computer technology and news sites (biggest and most covered Internet Topic) then you can't have failed to notice the changes. Thousands of sites have already vanished and many more are planning to go commercial.

A good example would be the news and information site, CombatSim, that saw a near 100% fall in advertising income and subsequently turned to a radical pay-per-view model. Asking roughly $3-$4 per month to view the site and thus do away with the banners. Despite loosing a vast amount of its readership, the change was a successful one, although many agree the price is too high.

A more recent example would be MSN (The Microsoft Network Portal), who are currently researching the possibility of asking each reader for a £60 per year charge in order to view and use their site and services. This again is being seen as a ridiculously high charge, although MSN seem confident enough people would abide to make it profitable, a likely story - not.

Much of this may seem shocking; sites that were once free instantly asking for large and often unfair amounts of money. Yet despite this more and more sites change to the PPV method every day, it's starting to be regarded as a necessary evil in order to stay afloat.

Sites choosing to avoid the PPV model (ZDNet, The Register and the majority etc.) face a difficult time ahead, having to improvise by making more use of annoying popup ad's and large banners with yet more innovative and sometimes intrusive advertising methods. Many will even go to the length of changing your web browser's settings, technically hacking your system.

The Future

The Internet as we know it is presently standing on the sharp end of a pin, falling one way would see it return to normality and the other would bring in greater commercialisation. Whatever happens the damage will have already been done, with many sites shutting down and many more already choosing the commercial rout.

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