A Follow up to Intereconomia Visit - Suggested Business Models for Internet TV

Following our visit to the Intereconomia premises in the center of Madrid, here is a little follow up on what business models Internet TV companies should adopt.

The business models I will suggest for Internet TV will be based on Michael Rappa’s ‘Business Models on the Web’ study.
I strongly believe that the first step in monetizing such a business on the Internet is through advertizing. We have seen contextual advertizing work very well for the likes of Google for example. As of right now, and according to the manager of Intereconomia who gave us the tour, it is impossible for them to monetize their Internet site this way. The reason for this being that the traffic generated on their website is significantly lower than the one they generate on television. Nevertheless, as viewer attention shifts from the traditional television screen to the modern computer screen, this traffic statistic, and thus the business model, could be subject to change.

Another possible strategy to monetize Internet TV could be by adopting a community model with public broadcasting. Through this business model, companies adopt a user-supported model used by not-for-profit radio and television broadcasting extended to the web, supported by the community of users through voluntary donations. Intereconomia is not a not-for-profit organization so I do not believe that their primary source of revenue could be the latter however, it could serve as a secondary source of profit.
Unless the channel is on pay-tv, I do not believe that a subscription model would be beneficial for media companies. We have seen newspapers uploading their content up on the Web for free (the exception being the Financial Times) and I believe that media companies such as Intereconomia should do the same. In addition to this, their site, up to now, has not been based on a subscription model, and making their customers pay for previously free content could have drastic effects.