On the subject of “Don’t fight the internet“, Fred Wilson has a great piece predicting the failure of pre-roll video advertising:
Pre-roll ads are going the way of popups and other intrusive ads. They won’t be around in a couple years. And the online video services that use them to monetize their audience won’t be around either.
Because the thing you have to understand about digital media is its pervasive and abundant. There is always somewhere else to get the same thing. Digital is write once, read everywhere. Digital media is like a virus. It spreads like crazy.
So if you want to build a business around digital media, you have to be the best place to view/consume the media. Being the only place to see it is a naive strategy that won’t work. You have to make digital media easy to find, easy to watch/listen/view, easy to comment/tag/share, and easy to replicate/reblog/republish.
That’s the way two way media works. If you don’t understand/accept that, get out of the business because you’ll be out of it sooner or later.
A lovely post by someone who does understand Web 2.0.