Vint Cerf on TV’s “iPod moment”

August 28, 2007
by Latitude

Vint Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the internet, has predicted that the death of TV is just around the corner. Cerf also happens to be vice president and chief internet evangelist for Google, but don’t dismiss him as having conflicting interests. What he has to say carries an important message for marketers.

Cerf says that TV is rapidly approaching its “iPod moment”, where the ability of the average person to download content and watch it when we want, where we want, will make traditional television something we won’t have much use for.

Perhaps predictably, the influx of new internet users is something that Cerf feels is good for everyone:

I want more internet. I want every one of the six billion people on the planet to be able to connect to the internet – I think they will add things to it that will really benefit us.

That last point is, of course, open to debate. What is worth sitting up and taking notice of, though, is the prospect of all those new customers on the web. Recently published research predicts almost 400 million global broadband users by 2009 – just shy of the 409 million cable subscribers in the world. By 2010, broadband users will outnumber cable subscribers.

The message for marketers is clear: Think big, think ROI, and – most importantly – invest online.

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