If the web is dead, who pays for its funeral

The following post was cross-posted on the Berkeley DMEC blog.

Earlier this week, the iSchool invited Roy Bahat, President of IGN Entertainment, to share his thoughts on Chris Anderson's article, The Web is Dead.

Roy kicked-off the  conversation by looking  at several technologies and information systems--area codes, television channels, and world of warcraft.   Through those analogies, Roy highlighted his perspective on his interpretation of the web is dead:

• Analogy of the web as a place is no longer relevant
• Abundance destroys meaning
• Ebb and flow between choice and simplicity

To Roy, the rise of applications is a return to a less fragmented and noisy world as people seek to reduce choice for simplicity. The web is as we know it is being replaced by an app state of mind.

If true, this has some amazing implications on the space. In the web-based world, the predominate monetization business model for websites was through advertising. The idea of free (also championed by Chris Anderson), has become the predominant way we view the web.

Credit Suisse estimates that the advertising revenue makes up 24.1% of total mobile web revenue opportunities (of an estimated $3.2B US Mobile revenue forecast). The remaining 75.9% ($2.5B) source from mobile paid apps. While we still see display advertising in applications (iAds, admob, and Yahoo!), this introduces a larger channel for who pays.

You, the consumer.

Along with the  shift to an app framework, monetization strategies will also change as individuals also become a viable revenue source. The question then becomes, how big will consumer driven revenue be in comparison to advertising driven revenue?

If this is true, it raises two important questions:

1. Are consumers ready to pay their own way?
2. What will brands do?

Roy Bahat will be teaching at the Haas School of Business in spring 2011. Both Roy and Chris will be speaking at the 6th Annual >Play conference today