Bill Gates has during a speech at the World Economic Forum offered his view on the Internet and its effect on TV. According to Gates Internet will revolutionize TV within a period of five years and the reason is simply that the young generation spends a lot more time in front of the computer and video sites like YouTube and Google Video, instead of the actual TV. The thing that will tip the scales is the freedom of the Internet as you can watch anything at anytime. A great contrast to today’s TV watching offers practically no control or influence.
“Certain things like elections or the Olympics really point out how TV is terrible. You have to wait for the guy to talk about the thing you care about or you miss the event and want to go back and see it,”
Today, the Internet assortment is far from complementary to the regular TV networks, but according to Gates the borders will fade and this will become a challenge for both TV networks and advertisers.
