Nitron Advisors CEO Speaks on User Generated Media at iBreakfast

June 22, 2006—iBreakfast Club has invited David Teten, CEO, Nitron Advisors, to speak on “Business Models in User-Generated Media” on June 23.

User-generated media (UGM) is currently witnessing explosive growth. According to Shawn Conahan, CEO of Intercasting Corp., there are several macro-level changes that drive the growth in the UGM, which includes the following:

• Moving from top-down media to point-to-point media; 57 percent of online teenagers (aged 12–17) create content for the Internet
• Media distribution changing from pushing from the center to circulating around the edge
• Lastly, media converging with personal communication, and it is happening in the mobile space

The eight business models identified around UGM are Hardware; Advertising Platform; Promoting a User’s Services; Enabling Software; Analysis: Selling the Long Tail’s Content; Brand-Building and Support; Subscription Fees; and Producing UGM.

UGM is currently witnessing explosive growth, and tremendous opportunity lies in selling devices and hardware that can be used to generate content and media by the masses. According to InfoTrends/CAP Ventures, worldwide camera phone shipments will grow to over $860m by 2009, which will account for 89 percent of all the handsets shipped. A vast majority of these devices are used to generate photos, SMSs, emails, speech, and other content that can reach more than one person. A search engine such as Google is benefiting from the rise of UGM, which is used by advertisers particularly to reach small communities. The explosive growth of Internet advertising has enabled advertisers to use MySpace and Facebook as advertising platforms for UGM.

Companies, such as Six Apart, Lithium, and 21Publish, are willing to sell software that helps Internet users to build their own UGM platform. Virtual presence is used broadly by independent consultants and other people with a self-managed career to market their services and search for a job, business development, etc. Another approach can be that of Nitron Advisors, an independent research firm, which works primarily with institutional investors and provides direct access to a network of frontline industry experts. Nitron’s model involves access to millions of frontline industry experts who can give the real picture of the market.

Many companies are sponsoring UGM platforms primarily to promote their corporate brands, tap the wisdom of the community around them, and reduce their support costs. Firms have felt the need to know the happenings in the online world, and many have created corporate blogs to serve this purpose. Companies can also use the inputs from the UGM world to redefine their marketing strategy or as new ideas for R&D. Firms, such as Trendum, Hitwise, Nielsen BuzzMetrics, Cymfony, or Brandimensions, serve to monitor the UGM world of other companies. While there are companies such as BzzAgent, which will proactively try to manage and influence online opinion, other online communities, such as LinkedIn, OpenBC, and Minyanville, which rely heavily on UGM, have a strong enough brand to charge membership fees.

Please refer to the selected sources for more information on UGM
Blogging Business Models
http://investors.qumana.com/blog/BloggingBusinessModels
The Rise of the Consumer-Generated Media Machine
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=28733
Consumer-generated media is becoming more and more commercialized by the day
http://www.m-travel.com/news/2006/05/consumergenerat.html