In a recent interview with The Independent, Bill Gates discussed his perspective on online media and advertising, noting that the internet is increasingly becoming the best platform for target creative advertising.

"You want to grab somebody's attention and great visuals are the way that's done," said Gates. "[The internet] is an environment where getting attention is probably tougher than ever, and yet it's also an environment where you can try out certain creative [initiatives] and see what type of response you get to them far more effectively. If you can get the cost of creation down, then the idea of having more variety works."

Gates goes on to say that advertisers need to be quick to embrace internet advertising. “TV has historically . . . been a broadcast medium with everybody picking from a very finite number of channels. If you want content that is a local sports thing or a hobby that you are interested in, that's not available to you. The use of the internet to deliver those video signals and the idea of seeing what you are interested in, and having the ads targeted to you, is becoming the standard way that video is delivered. Over the course of this next decade that will be very common."

As technology changes, so must advertising in order to be effective. Just last night I was catching up on a recent episode of Lost, gladly fast-forwarding through the commercial segments in order to get back to the show. Because I’m not the only one who records shows and watches them later without commercial interruption, the television medium is proving to be less and less effective for advertisers, and because of this, they’ll be forced to find a new medium in order to get the necessary ROI to justify the effort.

Gates also notes that, through internet advertising, "It will be possible to target the ads and it will be important to have ads that the consumer doesn't skip over, incorporated in the right way."

In many ways, Gates is describing a key part of the groundswell of what will create the content economy. Television advertising simply isn’t working as well as advertisers need it to and, because of that, advertisers will start adjusting their media buy in search of ROI. Couple this with the insatiable appetite consumers have for access to online content, and the fact that publishers and content creators are actively seeking effective ways of monetizing content, and you have the content economy perfect storm.

Stay tuned to see how this one plays out – or, better yet, get involved in it.  The content economy benefits everyone!