Internet Publishing, Broadcasting & Search Portals

Internet Publishing, Broadcasting & Search Portals

Brief Excerpt from Industry Overview Chapter:

Companies in this industry publish content on the Internet or operate websites designed to help people find content online. Major companies include Facebook, Google, and Yahoo! (all based in the US), as well as Baidu and Tencent (both based in China), DeNA (Japan), and NHN (South Korea).

Global Internet publishing, broadcasting, and search companies cater to a potential customer base of more than 2 billion Internet users worldwide, according to Internet World Stats. Asia has the most Internet users, followed by Europe, North America, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Use of the Internet continues to expand globally, especially among developing nations.

The US Internet publishing, broadcasting, and search portal industry includes about 3,200 companies with combined annual revenue of about $49 billion. The industry is forecast to grow at a high rate over the next two years, driven by new platforms for Internet access, the development of nonadvertising revenue, and international expansion.

Companies that specialize in providing Internet access and Internet retail are covered in the Internet Service Providers and Internet and Catalog Retailers profiles, respectively.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is driven by consumer and business needs for information and entertainment. The profitability of individual companies depends on their ability to deliver relevant information to consumers and to offer advertisers desirable target markets. Large companies enjoy economies of scale in marketing and in their ability to develop and maintain multiple websites. Smaller companies can compete by focusing on niche markets....