Only two per cent of Internet spend last year was on content, says Zona

Zona Research's latest predictions for the Internet and intranets are that the market, worth $49.21 billion last year, will be worth $142 billion by 2001. And, wouldn't you know it, Zona reckons the smallest components of the total 1997 spend were be "creation, control and content", at three, two and two per cent respectively. Zona aggregates the market for Internet and intranet products and services into something it calls the Adjusted Gross Internet Product (AGIP), which is what the total numbers are. But the company doesn't seem to have noted in its report (Internet and Intranet: Markets, Opportunities and Trends) that the two per cent spend on content, apart from destabilising The Register's IPO plans something rotten, could be interpreted as confirming everything the critics say about the Web: 250 million pages and there's nothing on 'em. But seriously, the report gives an idea of where the priorities are, and where the money's going to go. Communications took the biggest (65 per cent) share with $32.43 billion, containment next at $11.59 billion (24 per cent) and consumption $2.06 billion at four per cent. That means that the intranet/extranet aspects of the Web have been looming large, and that e-commerce and content are still pretty much in their infancy. This will change, although looking at journalists' wages historically we wouldn't be at all surprised if the content percentage didn't budge. Zona figures that the electronic economy will grow to over $204 billion in Web-based transactions by 2001. Transaction revenues last year in the US were $10.4 billion, and are estimated at £31.3 billion for this year. But give us a break, Zona -- don't you think these people are going to want to read something interesting when they're transacting? ® Click for more stories