Article at a glance:

What went wrong for on-line media?

Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it—a maxim that may prove useful for media companies as they struggle to make sense of their bumpy ride on the World Wide Web. This set of seven charts examines the economics of on-line media and compares those economics with those of their off-line counterparts.

The take-away

Given the disparity between the large number of Internet sites and the relatively small amount of advertising for them, most on-line media properties were doomed from the start. Yet for those that survive, the future may turn out to be promising.