Find yourself clicking through TV stations faster than a speeding bullet? Why not try tuning into the Internet, where viewers choices are virtually unlimited. With the phenomenal growth of broadband Internet connections, more users are finding their news, sports, and entertainment provided by the click of a mouse.
Just how has Internet television grown this year?
- The July 7th London bombings attracted 4.4 million people to click onto MSNBC.com for continuous coverage of the events as they happened.
- The Live 8 concerts attracted over 5 million users to tune in earlier this month on AOL.com.
- 2.5 million people downloaded Tom Cruise's couch jumping routine from the June 24th Today show the week after it happened.
These "rich media" labeled sites have attracted the attention of advertisers and have projected a growth of 60 percent this year alone.
What do Internet TV stations offer? The question should be what don't they offer?
By having your computer plugged into the Internet you can access anything from news, entertainment, sports. To obscure channels showing religious services, House of Representatives sessions, or even aquarium camera's catching the everyday life of fish and otters.
Because of this large community you can find many different personalities hosting their own shows that you won't see on a network TV station. Winamp has allowed users to do this by creating their own bootleg television stations, which has grown to a few hundred on their listings.
A fan favorite lately would have to be ManiaTV, which airs a 24 hour mix of music videos, short films, cartoons, sports clips, and websites provided from users through the Internet. With over a dozen "Cyberjockies" it provides an unusual interactive experience allowing users to place requests online to the cyberjockies live through their website. Users can also have a unique influence on the programming by chatting live with the cyberjockies. By giving their feed back on songs they like or don't like, cyberjockies have the power to kill a song in the middle of being aired if fans do not like it.
Additionally, this website allows users to be entertained and still watch or listen to videos while surfing the web or instant messaging friends. With all the hype of Internet TV and more users finding themselves watching TV at the computer advertisers are expecting to cash in on this "gold rush" of entertainment. Internet TV advertising revenue is expected to reach $1.15 billion this year, predicted Lee Westerfield, media analyst for investment bank Harris Nesbitt. "It's the fastest-growing major segment of Internet advertising," he said. "And all of that is money that would have been spent on traditional television."
So when you find yourself channel flipping that old boob tube of yours why not log on and tune in for some alternatives you might just find tickle your tastes.