New media in the UK
Owen Gibson continues his fine work, writing with Bobbie Johnson about the state of Web 2.0 in the UK (the piece came out yesterday but I wanted to give it my full attention so it had to wait until today) . There is a lot of good stuff here (especially the almost mythic stories about last.fm and their ‘tents on a roof’ employment incentive scheme) but first, let’s take a look at the obligatory list of 2.0 sites that comes with the article.
No fewer than 3 of the ten are near-pristine copies of American enterprises and the others might as well be; its a paltry list to say the least and to be honest I would have rather seen a list of possibilities (maybe concentrating on the burgeoning mobile market) instead of highlights of bastardized ‘innovation’ . The article is upfront about how slow the UK has been to the Web 2.0 flame and blames it partially on a dubious 10 year dotcom hangover and the relative volume disparity between the US and UK (300m pairs of eyes to 60m). But it is also quite optimistic:
“The conditions for startups are now very favourable,” says Philip Sheldrake, co-founder of property site OnOneMap.com. “Operating costs have dropped dramatically, servers are many times more powerful and cost a fraction of the price they did in 2000…. Peter Linthwaite, chief executive of the British Venture Capital Association, says the technology groundwork laid down in the UK by investors and universities years ago is beginning to pay off. “This is a long burn - the work that was done back in the mid-90s is only now beginning to come through. I think it’s an evolutionary period; the UK is ahead of many other countries and has a much stronger infrastructure, and I think the balance is shifting.”….Internet advertising in the UK is already three times the size of the radio market and is on course to overtake press revenues by the end of the year. According to figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau, almost £1bn was spent online by advertisers in the first six months of 2006.
And I say rightly so, the UK market is now primed for some specific local innovation, the money and the pipeline are clearly there, its just a case of that first big hit. If YouTube had come from London, don’t you think there would be 10,000 kids all around the county trying to figure out the coolest new web thingy?
Add comment October 17th, 2006