This document summarizes findings about the global internet value chain. It describes how the value chain has grown rapidly, with total revenues estimated at $1.9 trillion in 2008. More than 60% of revenues come from business-to-business activities, while consumer spending is largest for internet access and devices. Online services represent $242 billion in revenues, with search engines capturing over 1/3. The most concentrated and profitable parts of the value chain are online services like gaming, search, and hardware categories like smartphones and consoles. The internet continues to grow rapidly but its future development is uncertain.

1. Internet Value Chain
Economics
Gaining a deeper understanding of the Internet economy

3. W
hen considering the technological innovations of the past
50 years, the Internet is probably the one that has had the
greatest impact on everyday life in developed economies.
Nearly six out of 10 Americans now shop online and more than four out
of 10 bank online. Twenty hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every
minute, while 5 percent of all time online is spent on the social net-
working site, Facebook. The Internet has also changed the way in which
businesses operate—today, 64 percent of C-level executives conduct
six or more searches per day to locate business information. The Internet
has been a source of great good—as evidenced by the role played by
Internet-based mapping and communications in the relief effort follow-
ing the recent Haiti earthquake. The Internet also has shown a negative
side—more than 97 percent of all emails are spam, while more than 70
percent of Americans fear online identity theft and 57 percent feel that
their personal privacy has been greatly diminished by the Internet.1
Behind these statistics and headlines, however, tions, a sound understanding of the Internet
there remains a low level of understanding of economy will be important for all stakeholders.
how the Internet economy works. Who are the This includes the companies playing a role in the
different players involved in the Internet, beyond Internet economy, private and business consum-
the flagship names? How is the industry struc- ers, and the regulators and policy-makers who are
tured and how concentrated is it? How do players increasingly being asked to oversee or intervene in
make money and how do revenues flow across multiple aspects of the Internet.
the value chain? Is the industry attractive in terms To help improve the understanding of the
of growth and returns? Internet landscape, Vodafone commissioned
As the Internet continues to grow and A.T. Kearney to conduct a review of the Internet’s
develop, playing an increasingly important role in value chain and economics. This paper has been
the lives and activities of people and organiza- produced independently and does not necessarily
1
Data sources include Pew Internet & American Life Project survey, 2009; YouTube, May 2009; ComScore, April 2009; Google, Forbes, BtoB, June2009;
“Social media get quake reports out fast,” Los Angeles Times, January 2010; Microsoft, 2009, quoted in http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7988579.stm;
ABC News/Washington Post, 2009, quoted in http://www.spendonlife.com/blog/new-poll-shows-increased-id-theft-fear.
INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney 1

4. represent the views of Vodafone. Neither Vodafone Total Internet value chain revenues are esti-
nor A.T. Kearney is responsible for the use that mated at US$1,930 billion in 2008, growing on
might be made of this paper. average at 10 percent p.a. More than 60 percent
This paper has a global scope but most exam- derives from business-to-business activities as
ples and illustrations focus on North American many organisations have embraced the Internet to
and European markets. Terminology has been market and sell their services and to manage rela-
standardised and may differ from regional usage. tionships with suppliers and partners. On the
The paper begins with a brief overview of the consumer side, the largest categories of spend are
Internet’s growth and usage trends. Next, it lays for retail Internet access and end-user devices/
out the Internet value chain and describes each hardware. Between them, these enablers for
part of the value chain in terms of key players and households to access the Internet account for 44
revenue models. Finally, it provides an assessment percent of total consumer value chain revenues.
of the industry’s market size, growth trends, prof- Consumer Online Services, the most visible
itability and competitive structure. part of the Internet economy, represent a US$242
It is not the purpose of this paper to offer rec- billion market, of which a substantial part relates
ommendations, but rather to provide a consistent to e-Commerce. Search engines capture more
framework and fact base to inform public debate. than one-third of remaining online service reve-
With such a broad remit we may inevitably dis- nues and indeed 59 percent of online advertising
appoint readers who would like more detail about revenues.
individual markets or issues; for that reason we Revenues for consumer Online Services are
have provided documentation of our sources and growing more than twice as fast as those for
assumptions to assist further research. Internet access provision and more than five times
faster than sales of hardware and software.
Bandwidth growth has been even stronger, but
1. Summary of Findings online service revenues are for the most part
disconnected from bandwidth consumption — in
The number of Internet users has grown rapidly to 2008 file-sharing and video-on-demand accounted
1.7 billion in 2009, or a quarter of the world’s pop- for nearly three-quarters of bandwidth but only
ulation. Consumers use the Internet for an increas- 8 percent of revenues.
ing range of everyday activities, from shopping and Our analysis shows that the most concentrated
banking to sharing photos and watching TV. As a markets in the value chain are the Online Services
result, they spend a growing proportion of their of VoIP, gaming and search plus certain categories
media consumption time and wallet on the Internet. of hardware/software, namely games consoles,
A complex value chain has developed to deliver smart phones and operating systems. The online
these services, comprising global and local players advertising network market is also highly concen-
with assets as diverse as content rights, communi- trated. In all of these categories the top three play-
cations and IT infrastructure, proprietary software ers account for more than 60 percent of revenues,
and global brands. Businesses also use the Internet driven by strong network and/or scale effects.
extensively to market and distribute their services We also analysed the profitability of the larg-
as well as to procure and manage supply chains. est players in all categories. While many factors
2 INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney

5. influence a company’s profitability in a given year, value chain to influence corporate strategic activity
we found the most concentrated categories to be and regulatory decision-making in the years ahead.
among those with the highest returns on capital
employed (ROCE) in the value chain, at least
20 percent in all cases. Content Rights and 2. Growth of Internet Usage
Connectivity, on the other hand, are less concen-
trated markets when measured at a global level, The number of Internet users globally has grown
although local differences apply. Both of these dramatically in the past 15 years (see figure 1). In
markets also have lower ROCE (10 to 15 percent) 1995, there were only 16 million Internet users,
and the market capitalisations of their largest equating to 0.4 percent of the world’s population.
players have been stagnant for years. By 2009, this had risen to 1.7 billion users, corre-
The Internet has a short history characterised sponding to more than a quarter of the world’s
by rapid bursts of technological and economic population. In most West European and North
development, often stimulated by the emergence of American markets, Internet usage penetration
new entrants on a global scale. Whether it will con- now surpasses 75 percent of the population.
tinue to be so dynamic or is now of such a size and In recent years the strongest growth has come
relative maturity that it begins to resemble other from emerging markets. In China, the penetra-
parts of the global economy, is beyond the scope of tion rate has jumped from 2 percent in 2000 to 27
this paper. Certainly one could expect such differ- percent by the end of 2009. With 360 million
ences in economic performance across the Internet people online, China has more Internet users than
Figure 1
Global Internet users and penetration rate (1995-2009)
25.6%
2,600 A quarter of the world’s population is online 26%
23.5%
2,400 24%
2,200 22%
20.0%
World population penetration
2,000 20%
Internet users (millions)
1,800 16.7% 1,734 18%
15.7% 1,574
1,600 16%
1,400 12.7% 1,319 14%
1,200 11.1% 12%
1,093
9.4% 1,018
1,000 8.6% 10%
817
800 719 8%
5.8% 587
600 513 6%
4.1%
3.6% 361
400 36 70 4%
16 248
1.7%
200 0.9% 147 2%
0.4%
0 0%
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Sources: Nielsen, ITU; A.T. Kearney analysis
INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney 3

6. the whole of Western Europe, and 60 percent More recently, mobile devices have become
more than the United States. Brazil already has a key means to access the Internet, driven by the
more Internet users than any European country, availability and increasing affordability of smart-
while the Middle East has gone from 3 million to phones as well as high-speed data modems and
57 million users between 2000 and 2009. USB “dongles” that provide Internet access for
Most users access the Internet via fixed-line laptop computers. Total shipments for smart-
broadband connections at home or at work. phones, for instance, are projected to grow from
The take-up of broadband, delivered via multiple 54 million in 2005 to 289 million in 2013.2
technology options but primarily via DSL con- Time spent online is also growing substan-
nections over the original copper telephone net- tially, to some extent at the expense of traditional
works, has transformed the telecommunications media. A recent study conducted in Germany, for
landscape in most countries. With plans to deploy instance, projected that the Internet’s share of
fibre to deliver far greater bandwidth per connec- media consumption time would increase from 4
tion, the telecommunications sector faces a major percent in 2000 to 24 percent in 2015. This, how-
investment wave in the next decade and is cur- ever, does not come solely at the expense of other
rently engaged in extensive debate over the future media. Total media consumption time grew by
regulatory framework and commercial model to nearly 50 percent between 2000 and 2009 to an
support such investments. average of 10.3 hours per day. There is a growing
Figure 2
Internet share of consumers’ time and wallet EXAMPLE: Germany
Share of time by media1 (2000-2015e) Share of wallet by media (2000-2015e)
(hours/day/person) (US$ billion)
7.2 8.3 9.6 10.3 71 75 99 134
20% 23% 23% 23% Others2
34% Others2
4% 40%
3% 2% 2% Magazines 47%
58%
24% 21% Radio 4% Magazines
37% 29% 4% Radio
5%
5% 17% TV
7%
6%
29% TV 8% 20%
30%
6%
34% 23%
36% 42% Internet3
23% 29%
21% 24% Internet
12% 16%
4% 5%
2000 2005 2010e 2015e 2000 2005 2010e 2015e
Notes: 1Includes simultaneous media consumption Sources: PwC, SevenOne Media, ARD/ZDF online study; A.T. Kearney analysis
2
Books, films, newspapers, offline-video games and video
3
Internet advertising and access spending
2
Credit Suisse, June 2009
4 INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney

7. trend of consuming multiple media at the same Internet usage patterns have evolved rapidly,
time—for instance, browsing the Internet while as illustrated by consumers’ preferred websites. Of
watching TV. the top 15 websites in the United States in 1999,
With increasing share of time, the Internet is measured by unique visitors, only four remained
inevitably also capturing an increasing share of in this league table by 2009 (see figure 3). Most of
consumer and advertiser spend—from 5 percent the top 11 websites have been launched fairly
in 2000 to 42 percent of total by 2015 in Germany, recently and include sites such as Google,
potentially twice as much as TV and Radio com- Facebook, eBay and Apple iTunes.
bined. This trend is likely to be repeated for other Search and Social Networking are two exam-
European markets (see figure 2). ples of services where market leadership has
Internet usage is expanding to a broader range changed rapidly. In 1999, Google captured only
of services and becoming central to everyday lives. 4 percent of global search revenues. Today Google
In the United States, 56 percent of people reported has two-thirds of the market, while 1999 leader
having bought a product online in 2009 com- Yahoo!’s share has shrunk from 29 percent to 7
pared with just 27 percent in 2000; 42 percent percent. In social networking, Facebook did not
bank online, compared to 10 percent in 2000; 28 exist in 2003. Five years later, it held 23 percent of
percent use social networking sites, in contrast the market, while 2003 market leader Xanga is no
with only 5 percent in 2000. longer among the top five players.
Figure 3
Top 15 Internet websites (1999 versus 2009)
U.S. top 15 sites 1999 U.S. top 15 sites 2009
Web property UVs (m)
2
Genre Web property UVs (m) Genre
1. AOL sites 46 Portal 1. Google sites 164 Search
2. Microsoft sites 32 Portal 2. Yahoo sites 158 Portal
3. Yahoo sites 31 Portal 3. Microsoft sites 133 Portal
4. Lycos 29 Search 4. AOL sites 99 Portal
5. Go Network 21 Portal 5. Facebook 97 Social network
6. GeoCities1 19 Web hosting 6. Ask Network 88 Search
7. The Excite Network 17 Portal 7. Fox Interactive Media 83 Media/social network
8. Time Warner Online 13 Media 8. Amazon 70 e-Commerce
9. Blue Mountain Arts 12 e-Cards 9. Wikimedia Foundation 69 Reference
10. AltaVista 11 Search 10. eBay 67 e-Commerce
11. Amazon 10 e-Commerce 11. Turner Network 63 Media
12. Xoom 9 Web hosting 12. CBS Interactive 59 Media
13. Snap 9 Search 13. Apple Inc. 58 Music
14. Real Networks 8 Media player 14. Glam Media 56 Lifestyle
15. CNET 8 Media 15. Answers.com 55 Reference
= No longer operating Note: 1Now only available in Japan
2
The Unique Viewers (UV) metric enables a clearer comparison of different
= No longer exists as an independent entity
types of websites than the more commonly referenced Page Views metric
Sources: ComScore, A.T. Kearney analysis
INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney 5

8. 3. Overview of the Internet Content Rights owners are typically media
Value Chain companies such as Warner Brothers, the BBC or
Electronic Arts providing their content for a share
The Internet ecosystem is complex and involves of revenues and/or license fees. Content Rights
multiple activities and players. We break down owners typically retain 50 to 70 percent of the rev-
the Internet value chain into five main markets: enues generated by the online service provider
Content Rights, Online Services, Enabling Tech- that makes the content accessible to Internet
nology/Services, Connectivity and User Interface users. For instance, iTunes shares approximately
(devices and applications). Figure 4 shows the main 70 percent of revenues earned on each music pur-
strategic segments within each market and the dif- chase with the music majors.3 In some cases,
ferent service categories within those segments, Content Rights owners provide their own Online
together with the logos of some of the larger players. Services, such as the BBC iPlayer service. Of course,
A number of industry players operate in two there is still considerable illegal or unauthorised
or more segments of the value chain. This can be use of content on the Internet for which there is
powerful in terms of creating a seamless customer no payment made.
experience but can also be used to take full advan-
tage of assets such as technology, brands and Online Services
customer relationships in order to strengthen Online Services correspond to the range of ser-
competitive positioning. vices accessed by Internet users and are, as a result,
very diverse. For simplification, we have grouped
Online Services into five main segments:4
Description of the Key Markets in the Communications. Includes all forms of com-
Internet Value Chain munications among Internet users, including
voice (VoIP), social networking, email and instant
Content Rights messaging. Leading providers of such services
Much Internet content is user-generated, for include Skype (part of eBay), Facebook and
example, an individual’s page on a social network- Hotmail (part of Microsoft). With the exception
ing site or a “tweet” message on Twitter. Such con- of VoIP, these services are invariably provided free-
tent typically does not involve remuneration to of-charge and funded by advertising revenues.
content creators, although they may well retain General/vertical content destinations. This
copyright or some degree of privacy protection segment includes general content portals (Yahoo!)
over how their content is used by others. The and more targeted services such as dating web-
Content Rights market quantified in our subse- sites, general news/consumer publishing or special
quent analysis corresponds to the provisioning of interest content websites on a diverse range of
content to online service providers on a commer- topics from wine to politics. Revenues are mostly
cial basis. Examples of such content include generated through advertising, although some
music, filmed entertainment, games, news or the websites charge for access to their services (for
content of books and magazines. example, dating websites and FT.com).
3
Content Rights are often more complex than described here: an artist may own rights to different elements of a composition and receive royalties out of the
revenues collected by the media company.
4
In subsequent analyses we also refer to the main categories of service within these segments where market characteristics are distinct.
6 INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney

9. Figure 4
Overview of the Internet value chain ILLUSTRATIVE
Content rights1 Online services2 Enabling Connectivity User interface
technology services3
Media rights owners Communications Support technology Core network Applications
• Video Skype Vonage • Web-hosting • Software
• Web-design/development AT&T NTT
• Media players
• Audio Hotmail Facebook • Content management • Internet browsers
• Books NTT/Verio Rackspace
British France
Telecom Telecom
• Gaming General/vertical content Limelight Akamai McAfee RealNetworks
• Adult content Yahoo! Wikipedia
Group
• Editorial content Symantec Firefox
Financial match.com Billing and payments
Times Interchange
• Online billing and
TimeWarner EMI payment system Level 3 XO
Search Communications Communications
Harper providers
Blizzard
Collins Google Baidu
PayPal First Data User
BBC Devices
Bing Ask.com Chase Google Retail Internet
Paymentech Checkout access • PCs
• Smart phones
Entertainment Advertising • Game consoles
YouTube Xbox Live • Online ad agencies AT&T Vodafone • Other internet access
User-generated hardware
content • Online ad networks/ SingTel Tiscali
Last.fm iTunes exchanges • Operating systems
• Text • Voice • Third party ad servers United Road
Internet Runner Dell Nintendo
• Images • Video Transactions • Ratings/analytics services
NTT Free
WPP Razorfish Microsoft Apple
eBay Amazon
Double Nielsen Nokia
Expedia Boursorama Click
Notes: 1Content rights abbreviated to CR in subsequent value chains Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
2
See online services categories list in methodology for details
3
Enabling technology/services abbreviated to ETS in subsequent value chains
Search. This segment consists primarily of products and services. The largest service catego-
web search engines such as Google or Baidu, as ries include e-Retail (Amazon), e-Travel (Expedia)
well as local/national directories such as Yell in and online brokerage (Boursorama.com). Both
the United Kingdom or Pages Jaunes in France. bricks-and-mortar and pure-play online players are
Revenues are primarily generated from advertis- active in this segment. The e-Commerce site oper-
ing, with sophisticated models such as auctioned ator will collect payment from the customer and
keyword references or pay-per-click having estab- retain a margin, with the remainder passed on to
lished themselves in recent years. the manufacturer or service provider. Online costs
Entertainment. This comprises websites are typically much lower than for traditional retail-
focused on audio-visual entertainment, such as ing so that prices are often, although not always,
downloads of digital content (iTunes), music and lower. This has triggered substantial growth and
video streaming/online radio (YouTube, last.fm), a displacement of volumes from traditional retail
IPTV, gaming (Xbox Live), gambling (Party- to e-Commerce for items such as books.
Poker) or adult content. Revenues are generated Revenues generated by Online Services there-
almost equally from advertising and payments fore originate from a combination of advertising,
from end-users. paid-for access to content and services, and
e-Commerce. Many websites sell non-digital e-Commerce transaction fees.
INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney 7

10. Enabling Technology/Services provided by banks and payment processors such
Enabling Technology/Services are generally invis- as First Data, there are also pure-play online pay-
ible to the end-user, but are essential for the tech- ment service providers such as PayPal (part of
nical delivery of web content and the generation eBay) and Google Check-Out.
of revenues. Highly fragmented, these services fall Advertising services providers are funda-
into three broad segments: support technology, mental to revenue generation for most online
billing and payments and advertising services. service providers. This segment includes four
Support technology refers to a set of technical categories:
services provided to online service providers and • Advertising agencies that provide a range of ser-
includes website design and development, web vices to their clients, including media campaign
hosting and technical service platforms (such as planning, ad inventory acquisition for online
content management platforms). Akamai, for advertising campaigns, and creative services to
design and produce online adver-
tising. They charge commissions
based on the total volume of adver-
tising spend and, in the case of
Revenues for consumer Online large multi-service agencies such as
Services are growing more than OMD and WPP, online advertis-
ing is simply part of their portfolio
twice as fast as Internet access of client services, albeit a growing
part that requires specific skills.
provision and more than five • Dedicated online advertising net-
works and exchanges such as
times faster than sales of hard- Doubleclick (part of Google). Ad
networks are a technical and pay-
ware and software. ment clearing house for adver-
tising space. They both acquire
advertising space on behalf of
media buyers and advertisers and
example, provides content delivery services sell ad inventory on behalf of Internet websites.
through its network of servers that improve the They also provide the technical platforms that
speed and reliability of the connection and manage facilitate the placement of display ads on web-
the network load efficiently on behalf of online sites. In some cases, such as Advertising.com
service providers. (owned by AOL), ad networks will acquire and
Billing and payments comprise all payment resell ad inventory with a mark-up.
platforms used to process monetary transactions • Third-party ad serving providers that host and
made by consumers on the Internet—to pay for distribute online ads. This is also often per-
accessing specific services (such as music down- formed by the advertising agency that provides
loads) or to conduct online e-Commerce transac- the creative services.
tions. Beyond payment processing services • Ratings and analytics service providers that pro-
8 INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney

11. vide Internet user and usage metrics. Advertisers Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Major
have the option to buy advertising space either core network providers exchange traffic with each
through ad networks, through their regular other on the basis of “peering,” whereby each
advertising agency or directly from the website/ covers its own costs for installing and operating
content publisher. equipment that interconnects with others. Many
providers also procure interconnection on the
Connectivity basis of IP transit, since this is more cost effective
Connectivity refers to Internet access services pro- at lower traffic volumes.
vided by telecommunications network operators, Both core network and interchange operators
whether fixed or wireless. Telecommunications tend to be part of large, integrated telecoms oper-
markets vary in their structure based on regula- ators such as Verizon or BT, but there are specialist
tory and competitive dynamics, particularly with companies such as Level 3 or XO.
regard to the “access layer,” colloquially known as
the “last mile.” User Interface
Many customers will arrange their Internet The User Interface is an essential part of the
access service via their home telecommunications Internet value chain, involving both devices (such
provider, but cable TV companies, independent as PCs, game consoles and mobile phones) and
resellers or service providers and wireless opera- the related software (such as operating systems,
tors provide highly competitive offers in terms of web browsers, media players and games) used to
network speed and pricing. These services are render services to end-users. Key players include
typically provided on the basis of a monthly sub- hardware manufacturers such as Dell, Nintendo,
scription fee, which in some instances can include Apple and Nokia, as well as software providers
the fixed-line subscription fee and bundled voice such Microsoft, Real Media and McAfee.
calls and TV subscriptions. As usage volumes Revenues generated from the User Interface
grow exponentially for some heavy users, there is mainly derive from the end-user’s acquisition
debate on the future revenue model, with options of the device, which often includes pre-installed
including volume-based pricing (benefitting occa- software. Subscription models are increasingly
sional users) or models where the online service common for some applications, such as anti-virus
provider pays for the customer connectivity to security software. In some cases, software is pro-
ensure a particular quality of service that matches vided free-of-charge (for example via Internet
its content offering. browsers and media players) — as providers seek
Also involved in providing connectivity are to maximize their user base and generate revenues
core network operators that provide the so-called from advertising. In wireless markets, it has been
“highways” of Internet traffic transport. Core net- common for the connectivity provider to supply
work operators tend to be remunerated based on the device on a subsidised basis and recover the
the capacity they provide to the access providers. cost through ongoing subscription revenues. In
They connect the access network nodes to the some markets there have been trials with laptop
“super-exchanges” of Internet traffic, which route computers provided on a similar basis.
global Internet traffic based on technical stan- The replacement cycle for devices from PCs
dards defined by the Internet Corporation for to wireless phones has been very short, with
INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney 9

12. Figure 5 generated from consumer services, the main focus
Revenues generated by the Internet industry of this paper, amounted to US$732 billion.
Revenues from business services were sub-
stantially higher at US$1,195 billion. Eighty per-
Internet revenues by source/nature cent of these revenues derive from the Online
(2008 in US$ billion)
1,927
Services market and by far the biggest category
Content rights 34 here is B2B e-Commerce, accounting for 86 per-
cent of the revenues for Online Services (see figure
6). The Internet has brought substantial efficiency
Online services 1,198 1,195
gains to the way in which businesses deal com-
19 mercially with one another, through electronic
data interchange (EDI) services, which offer
732 greater speed and traceability than offline trans-
Enabling technology 956 16
and services 61
242 actions. This has resulted in the rapid replacement
Connectivity 325 61
of offline transactions with web-based trans-
262
User interface 309 62 actions — in 2007 around half of e-Commerce
158 151
transaction volume between businesses in the
Total Business Consumer
United States was already taking place through
Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
the Internet.5 The analysis in Figures 5 and 6
omits the actual value of the goods and services
a virtuous cycle from the perspective of the players and related fulfilment costs for B2B e-Commerce.
in this segment, as new applications drove a need After e-Commerce, the next biggest service
for stronger device functionality (for example, category in B2B Online Services is online infor-
chip processing speeds) which encouraged cus- mation services, a US$71 billion market for the
tomers to upgrade. In the economic downturn, provision of professional data on subjects such as
however, many corporate customers sought to finance, healthcare and law. Providers include the
slow down replacement cycles for their comput- likes of Thomson Reuters and Reed Elsevier.
ing infrastructure. The subsidised model in wire- Other major Online Services categories are the
less markets has also become increasingly strained provision of professional online e-Learning ser-
as operators question the profitability of custom- vices and Internet communication services, the
ers acquired on this basis. latter incorporating professional (or corporate)
VoIP, email, instant messaging, video-conferenc-
ing and machine-to-machine communications.
4. Market Size and Growth The Content Rights, Connectivity and User
Interface B2B markets largely share the same cat-
Internet Market Size egories as the consumer market. In the User
Total revenues generated in the Internet value chain Interface market, however, it is worth noting that
amounted to US$1,930 billion according to our user-paid software and other Internet hardware
estimates for the year 2008 (see figure 5). Revenues categories are significantly larger for businesses
5
The United States Census website.
10 INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney

13. Figure 6
Revenues generated by the Internet — business-to-business (2008)
# = market size in US$ billion1
Con- User
CR Online services nec- interface
tivity
8 SaaS/MFT4 19 Communications
27 Corporate e-Learning2 19 12 Applications
71 Information services 5 Oper. systems
interchange
Core network
14
Smart phones
19 49
Other
B2B content
Internet
hardware
43
831 e-Commerce
Retail Internet access
78
PCs
$19
$956 $62 $158
Total market = $1,195 billion
Notes: 1All market sizes are based on gross revenues. Revenues generated from other companies in the value chain are Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
not distinguished from those from companies outside the value chain;
2
Includes professional e-book sales
3
Includes VoIP, email, instant messaging, video conferencing, machine-to-machine communication
4
Software as a service, managed file transfer
than for consumers. The B2B user-paid software Interface (US$151 billion) and e-Commerce
market was worth US$12 billion in 2008, com- (US$146 billion), which covers e-Retail, e-Travel
pared to just US$2 billion for the parallel B2C and e-Brokerage services (see figure 7 on page 12).
markets. This includes, for example, corporate In other words, a typical household will spend
security and networking applications. The Internet most of its “Internet budget” on the access device
hardware market was worth US$49 billion in (such as a PC with software) and the access con-
2008, compared to US$7 billion for the parallel nection (such as a broadband subscription), as
B2C market and incorporates the likes of enter- well as paying substantial sums per year as margin
prise storage, Ethernet and enterprise routing on their e-Commerce purchases. As before, this
hardware. The remainder of this paper focuses on analysis omits the actual value of the goods and
the B2C market. services and related fulfilment costs, so, for
Revenues generated by consumers (B2C) are instance, the wholesale price of a book sold by a
focused on Connectivity (US$262 billion), User publishing house to an e-Retailer such as Amazon
INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney 11

14. Figure 7
Revenues generated by the Internet — consumer
# = market size in US$ billion1
Enabling
CR Online services3 technology/ Connectivity User interface
services
3 4 Communication 2 Apps.
13 General/vertical
content destinations 12
7 Oper. systems
Editorial
80 13 Game consoles
Support
34 tech. Core network/
interchange
2 Search 27
Adult
21 Smart phones
42
Entertainment Online 7 Other Internet hardware
billing
4 and
payments
Games
182
Retail internet 95
7 78 49 19 16 12 access4
PCs
Audio/video/books
e-Retail e-Travel
Online ad services2
Ad agencies
e-Brokerage
$16
$242 $61 $262 $151
Total market = $732 billion
Notes: 1All market sizes are based on gross revenues. Revenues generated from other companies in the value chain are Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
not distinguished from those from companies outside the value chain;
2
Includes ad networks/exchanges, 3rd party servers, ratings/analytics services
3
Online services includes $3 billion revenues for other website types not covered by the categories we have defined. This is excluded from subsequent analysis.
4
In determining the value of Retail Internet Access we have made assumptions about the directly attributable portion of monthly “bundled” subscription fees paid
to connectivity providers —in some markets regulation makes specific distinctions on this point
is excluded and only the gross margin earned by of the revenues from online advertising and user-
Amazon is included.6 paid content and services are concentrated in
Online Services represent perhaps the search and the largest entertainment categories,
most visible part of the industry to the general namely gambling, gaming and adult.
public, but of the US$242 billion in revenues Advertising (mainly Search-related) gener-
most are related to e-Commerce while Search and ates over US$58 billion, or 60 percent of total
Entertainment generates US$76 billion—10 per- online search revenues, while the remaining 40
cent of total value chain revenues. Even high- percent comes from payments by Internet users.
profile players such as Skype, Facebook and The ratio of advertising revenue to end-user pay-
YouTube generate less than a half a billion dollars ments in the Online Services market is similar to
in revenues each, despite substantial user numbers. the ratio seen in more traditional media such as
As Figure 8 illustrates, more than 75 percent consumer publishing.
6
Approach based on An Economic Map of the Internet (MIT 2002).
12 INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney

15. Figure 8
Breakdown of consumer online services revenues, 2008 (excluding e-Commerce)
Internet B2C revenues by source Revenues breakdown2
(2008 in US$ billion) (2008 in US$ billion)
732 96 58
Content rights 16 (2%) Others 3
4 (6%) Others
Online services, 38 (5%) Communications 4
user-paid 58 2 2 (3%) Communications
Online dating
Online services, (8%) 7
advertiser-paid Consumer publishing 7
Consumer publishing
Global portals 4 (13%)
146 Global portals
e-Commerce1 2 (4%)
(20%)
Enabling technology 61 Search/directory 34
and services (8%)
34 Search/directory
VoD/MoD 2 (59%)
262
Connectivity Gambling 6
(36%)
IPTV 5
Music/video/book
sales (digital) 6
Adult sites 11
151 2 (3%) VoD/MoD
User interface
(21%) 3 (6%) Adult sites
Gaming 12
3 (5%) Gaming
B2C revenues Online services, Online services,
user- and advertiser-paid advertiser-paid
Notes: 1Includes e-Retail, e-Travel, e-Brokerage
2
Excludes e-commerce (e-Retail, e-Travel, e-Brokerage) Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
A comparison between global Internet traffic Internet Service Providers (ISPs, operating in the
volume (as measured in petabytes7) and the gen- Retail Internet Access segment of the market), as
eration of Internet revenues suggests a significant traffic transportation costs account for more than
disconnect (see figure 9 on page 14). File sharing, 40 percent of their costs yet Internet traffic growth
including both legal and illegal downloads and does not, under current pricing models, translate
uploads, generates 54 percent of total Internet into incremental revenues.8
traffic but only 2 percent of total revenues. Video-
and music-on-demand services generated 18 per- Internet Growth Perspectives
cent of traffic but only 6 percent of revenues. This A.T. Kearney has reviewed the growth trends
might explain the concerns raised by a number of in each market, strategic segment and service
7
One petabyte is equal to 1,000,000 gigabytes.
8
This has led to a number of disputes between ISPs and providers of online services, particularly media services. For example, in 2009 the BBC voiced concern
that BT was limiting Internet download speeds during peak times, and that this was affecting the user experience of the BBC’s iPlayer video-on-demand service.
INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney 13

16. Figure 9
Online traffic versus online revenues in the consumer Internet value chain (2008)
6,100 PB $242 billion
Gaming1/gambling 1% 2%
Communications 7% Gaming1/gambling
1% Communications
7% General/vertical content sites
Other online services2 22%
14% Search
IPTV 3%
VoD/MoD 18%
File sharing and VoD
• Generates 73% of all
consumer traffic…
• …but only 8% of consumer 60% e-Retail, e-Travel, e-Brokerage
revenues
File sharing/digital downloads 54%
2% IPTV
6% VoD/MoD3
2% Digital music/video/book sales
Traffic Revenue
Notes: 1Includes video and casual gaming Sources: Cisco, Gartner, IAB, IDC, eMarketer, Business Insights,
2
Includes all general/vertical content, search and e-Commerce online services JP Morgan, Natixis, PwC, A.T. Kearney analysis
3
Includes adult
In October 2009 a report by Arbor Networks revealed more up-to-date Internet traffic analysis showing a relative decline in P2P file-sharing and significant growth in streaming video
from sites such as Hulu.com or YouTube. The disconnect between traffic and revenues, however, remains constant.
category in the Internet value chain and collated increased success in charging end-users for access
growth forecasts from multiple sources (see to audio-visual entertainment services as opposed
Appendix on page 22 for details). It is challenging to illegal downloading. Growth of Connectivity
to make long-term forecasts, but for the next services is set to be moderate at approximately
three years, we expect Internet revenues to grow 6 percent p.a., representing a mix of robust growth
at 10 percent p.a. but with substantial differences in emerging markets and in wireless access but
across the industry value chain. a major slow-down of broadband Internet access
Figure 10 represents our growth estimates, penetration growth in developed countries and
with the darker-shaded categories of the value intense pricing pressure. As discussed earlier, the
chain being those with the strongest growth tra- User Interface market should experience the slow-
jectory. Online Services is one of the most dynamic est growth at 3 percent p.a. following a period of
markets in the Internet value chain, with a growth strong device penetration growth (for example,
rate of 16 percent per annum—driven by migra- PCs and game consoles). New devices, such as
tion of advertising spend to online formats and e-Books, may well provide new growth impetus.
14 INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney

17. Figure 10
Growth perspectives of the consumer Internet industry (2008-2013 in US$ billions)
CAGR (2008-2013) <5% 5-10% 10-20% 20-30% >30%
Enabling
CR Online services technology/ Connectivity User interface
services
Social networking VoIP Applications
Consumer Operating systems
Content mgmt.
Portals Dating Web
publishing hosting,
design and Game consoles
Directory
develop- Core network/
Web search ment interchange
Smart phones
Music/
VoD/MoD
Gambling
video/
IPTV
Gaming Adult book
sales Online
(digital) billing and
payments
Content rights
Retail internet
e-Brokerage
access PCs2
Online ad services1
e-Retail e-Travel
Ad agencies
2008
$16 $242 $61 $262 $151 market
size
24% 16% 13% 6% 3% 2008-2013
CAGR
Total Internet value chain CAGR = 10%
Notes: *Size of box indicates relative market size (2008) Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
1
Includes ad networks/exchanges, 3rd party servers, ratings/analytics services
2
Includes other Internet hardware
5. Industry Structure and although some players might operate in multiple
Economics countries (for example, eBay or Vodafone).
Viewed at the global level, the Internet value
Structure and Concentration of the Internet chain seems highly fragmented, with a few nota-
Value Chain ble exceptions. For categories such as operating
The Internet value chain comprises some segments systems, smartphones, search, games consoles/
and categories that are global and others that are services, music and video, the top three market
more local in nature. PCs and operating systems players account for more than 40 percent of the
are inherently global businesses, due to the stan- global market and, in some cases, more than 80
dardised nature of these products and the very high percent. This is due to the inherently global nature
economies of scale. Businesses such as e-Commerce of these activities and the high economies of scale
and Connectivity are much more local in nature— and/or network effects.
INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney 15

18. Figure 11 provides a graphic representation of In Connectivity, concentration at a global
the degree of concentration at a global level of the level for Network Access is low as this is a funda-
Internet value chain categories; the darker-shaded mentally local business. Market concentration at a
categories have higher concentration. e-Com- country level may be strong, given local econo-
merce appears particularly fragmented at a global mies of scale and the legacy of monopoly infra-
level. This is due to the local nature of these activ- structure providers. There are however significant
ities and specialization of industry players by type differences across countries. In 2008, the five larg-
of service. Although fragmented when considered est UK ISPs accounted for more than 91 percent
at a global level across all retail types, e-Commerce of the Consumer market (following a wave of
is highly concentrated in some specific areas, that consolidation) while the five biggest U.S. ISPs had
is, at a national level and at a product category a combined market share of 56 percent.
level. For example, Amazon has a 53 percent share
of the U.S. online book market, which is pro- Profitability in the Internet Value Chain
jected to grow at a CAGR of 44 percent between A.T. Kearney further attempted to calculate the
2008 and 2013.9 profitability of the larger players across the value
Figure 11
Market concentration of the consumer Internet industry (2008)
Cumulative market share of top 3 players (at global level) <10% 10-20% 20-40% 40-60% 60-80% >80%
Enabling
CR Online services technology/ Connectivity User interface
services
Social networking VoIP Applications
Consumer Operating systems
Content mgmt.
Portals Dating Web
publishing hosting,
design and Game consoles
Directory
develop- Core network/
Web search ment interchange
Smart phones
Music/
VoD/MoD
Gambling
video/
IPTV
Gaming Adult book
sales Online
(digital) billing and
payments
Content rights
Retail internet
e-Brokerage
access PCs2
Online ad services1
e-Retail e-Travel
Ad agencies
Notes: *Size of box indicates relative market size (2008) Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
1
Includes ad networks/exchanges, 3rd party servers, ratings/analytics services
2
Includes other Internet hardware
9
Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2009-2013, PWC.
16 INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney

19. chain. Figure 12 represents our estimates, with strates returns that are likely below the cost of
the darker-shaded categories having the highest capital — the problems of this market in respond-
returns (measured as Return on Capital Employed, ing to the challenge of “free” content have been
ROCE). Higher ROCEs (20 percent+) can be well documented.
observed in User Interface (such as operating sys- Beyond the mainstream market leaders,
tems, PCs, smartphones and games consoles) and the Internet offers multiple niche positioning
selected Online Services (such as e-Commerce, options — some of which appear particularly
search, gaming, gambling and adult services). profitable. For instance, online nutrition com-
Returns in Connectivity and Enabling pany Nutrisystem delivers a ROCE of nearly 80
Technology/Services appear significantly lower percent; the company offers customized online
(10 to15 percent). This is likely due to higher cap- nutrition programs and delivers ready-made meals
ital intensity, more fragmented competition and that can be ordered online.
in some cases specific regulation of prices and/or
margins, as in the case of telecoms services in Economics of the Internet
many countries. Consumer publishing demon- Economic theory would suggest that the highest
Figure 12
Returns on capital employed for market leaders in the consumer Internet industry (2008)
Average ROCE3 <5% 5-10% 10-15% 15-20% 20-30% >30%
Enabling
CR Online services technology/ Connectivity User interface
services
Social networking VoIP Applications
Consumer Operating systems
Content mgmt.
Portals Dating Web
publishing hosting,
design and Game consoles
Directory
develop- Core network/
Web search ment interchange
Smart phones
Music/
VoD/MoD
Gambling
video/
IPTV
Gaming Adult book
sales Online
(digital) billing and
payments
Content rights
Retail internet
e-Brokerage
access PCs2
Online ad services1
e-Retail e-Travel
Ad agencies
14% 21% 13% 11% 25% 2008 ROCE
Notes: *Size of box indicates relative market size (2008) Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
1
Includes ad networks/exchanges, 3rd party servers, ratings/analytics services
2
Includes other Internet hardware
3
ROCE is based on top 3 players by market share in each category
INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney 17

20. returns should be earned in categories with high Social networking delivers low returns despite
market concentration. Such concentration may be strong network effects. This might result from the
due to high economies of scale and strong net- emerging and fast growing nature of these services
work effects (including customer switching costs). and from challenges to date in monetizing usage.
Our analysis seems to confirm this for a number Internet access service providers also deliver low
of categories, including operating systems, games returns, despite high scale effects. Possible expla-
consoles and smartphones (see figure 13). Categories nations might include the highly capital intensive
with low to moderate network effects and econo- nature of this industry, strong competition, regu-
mies of scale are expected to deliver modest lation and limited opportunities to differentiate
returns. For example, this is the case for general beyond price given legacy technology platforms.
interest portals and web hosting/design. Some categories of Online Services may appear
Some service categories do not deliver returns fragmented at a global value chain level but actu-
in line with what economic theory would suggest. ally involve concentrations in national or regional
Figure 13
Network effects and economies of scale for selected consumer Internet strategic categories
Illustrative
Social
Dating networking Operating
systems
Gaming Game
High
Gambling Web
Ad consoles
search
networks
Smart
Portals phones
Digital music/
customer switching costs
video sales
Network effects/
Medium
e-Commerce3
Portals Ad
agencies
Content Online billing/
rights payments
Internet
Low
Web hosting/ access
design
PCs
Low Medium High
Economies of scale1
Notes: 1Low: low capex, low operating economies of scale; Relative ROCE:2 High Medium Low
Medium: low capex, high operating economies of scale;
>20% 10-20% <10%
High: high capex, high operating economies of scale
2
Relative weighted average ROCE of top 3 players (where possible)
3
Includes e-Retail and e-Travel Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
18 INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney

21. markets that underpin stronger profitability. Yet, as this paper has shown, it is important
Another exception to common theory would be to understand differences between service cate-
“vice” services, such as gambling, dating, adult gories. Some categories deliver low returns
content and gaming. Despite moderate econo- and face decelerating growth perspectives — for
mies of scale and network effects, returns are high example, web hosting and Internet access provi-
(>15 percent) for these services—perhaps due to sioning. They may see attempts to consolidate
strong customer willingness to pay. or expand into other parts of the value chain:
there are some cases of telecoms companies invest-
Future Outlook ing in devices or in content, for instance. Figure
At a highly aggregated level, the Internet value 14 shows our estimates of future growth and
chain offers a strong growth outlook (10 per- current returns.
cent p.a.) and good returns for market leaders In a number of smaller categories such as
(>10 percent and in some cases much higher). social networking, returns are expected to increase
Figure 14
Forecast growth versus returns of the consumer Internet industry by category
45% 75%
VoIP
(1) VoD (1) Digital video sales
30% IPTV (1) Market
(5) concentration
<10%
Media rights Digital
(15) music 10-20%
Dating sales
(2) (4) 20-40%
Adult
(11) 40-60%
Content
management (1)
60-80%
e-Retail
(72) >80%
Social networks (3)
Market CAGR
Billing/
(2008-2013)
payments
Direc- (21)
tories (11) Ad networks
e-Brokerage (19) (5) Video
Gambling gaming
Ad (6) (9)
agencies Web
Internet (16) search
Consumer access (30) Software
(164) (2) Smart e-Travel
publishing phones (49)
(7) (27)
Web Game
hosting consoles
(10) PCs (13)
(95) Operating
systems
Global (6)
0% portals
(4)
0% 40%
Average ROCE
Notes: *Size of bubble denotes relative market size 2008 (value in brackets in US$ billions); all categories over $10 billion have same bubble size;
bubble border thickness denotes relative barriers to entry, through network effects or economies of scale/capital intensity
1
Based on combined market share of top 3 players
Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney 19

22. substantially as market leaders benefit from greater Concluding Remarks
scale effects and diminishing needs for start-up This paper has shown some clear trends in terms of
investment. However, the value chain is dynamic the economic performance of the various markets
and a number of market leaders in 2010 could in in the Internet value chain. Online Services and
theory be out of business by 2015. some categories of hardware and software at the
Differences in growth perspectives and User Interface show high concentration, rapid
returns largely explain diverging market capi- growth and high returns, which are reflected in the
talization gains over the last six years (see figure market capitalisation of their leading players.
15). Connectivity and Content Rights have failed Content Rights and Connectivity are less concen-
to create significant shareholder value—largely trated globally and earn returns around 10 to 15
due to sluggish market growth prospects and percent, but their market capitalisations have stag-
relatively low returns. Online Services and User nated as investors weigh high capital requirements
Interface have delivered the strongest market capi- against continued margin pressure. Strategic moves
talization growth—due both to strong growth along the value chain may be expected as players
prospects and high returns. Although more react to these economic trends. Understanding
impacted by the stock market downturn in these trends in such a dynamic part of the global
2008/2009, the rebound in these markets has economy is a key challenge for the companies
been very strong. involved, for investors and for policymakers.
Figure 15
Evolution of market capitalisation by value chain market (base 100 in 2004)
500
User interface5
400
Online services2
300
Enabling
technology/
services3
200
100 Connectivity4
Content rights1
0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Notes: Average for Disney, NewsCorp, Time Warner ,Warner Music Group, Vivendi and Electronic Arts
1
Sources: Bloomberg, A.T. Kearney analysis
2
Average for Amazon, Google, Yahoo!, eBay, Baidu, Expedia and Partygaming
3
Average for Akamai, CyberAgent, Google, Valueclick, Verisign and WPP
4
Average for AT&T, Vodafone, NTT, British Telecom, Deutsche Telecom and France Telecom
5
Average for Microsoft, Apple, Dell, Acer, Nokia and McAfee
20 INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney

23. Authors
Mark Page is a partner and global leader of the firm’s communications, media and high-tech practice. Based in the
London office, he can be reached at mark.page@atkearney.com.
Laurent Viviez is a principal in the firm’s communications, media and high-tech practice. Based in the London
office, he can be reached at laurent.viviez@atkearney.com.
Christophe Firth is a consultant based in the Dubai office. He can be reached at christophe.firth@atkearney.com.
INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney 21

24. Appendix: classifieds, email direct marketing and in-game
Report Methodology and online advertising. Advertising revenues are calcu-
Sources of Information lated on a net advertising value basis (source:
IDC). Online Services revenues from end-users
Value Chain Definition include subscriptions, pay-per-use services and
The Internet value chain includes all activities that digital goods purchases.
exist as a direct result of Internet usage. The
Internet value chain includes five markets and ROCE Analysis
15 strategic segments, as described in section 3. ROCE has been used as a key financial metric to
Suppliers to segments have only been described evaluate the profitability of companies involved
when they are specific to the Internet. For example, in the Internet value chain. The ROCE calcula-
we did not isolate call center providers or insurance tion used is the company’s EBIT divided by its
brokers providing services to e-Commerce players, Capital Employed. Capital Employed is defined
but have included web hosting. Each segment was as Total Assets less Current Liabilities.
also further broken down into more detailed ser- Where ROCE is calculated at segment or cat-
vice categories—47 consumer categories and 20 egory level, we have taken an average for the top 3
business cate-gories. We assessed separately reve- players in the category (which report financials),
nues generated by consumers and businesses— weighted by their 2008 Revenues. In segments
given the specifics of business services. These where there are no pure players, we have had to
include services such as B2B e-Commerce and apply the overall returns of the leading players in
exchange platforms, online information services that category or select second-tier pure players.
(for example Reuters), and paid-for hosted appli- ROCE is calculated using Bloomberg data and
cations such as email servers, Software as a Service annual reports. Focusing on the top 3 does of
and videoconferencing. course exclude the effect of failed companies
which may have experienced negative returns in
Market Sizing Analysis any given year, but we believe that it captures the
All market sizes are based on gross revenues, except long term profitability characteristics of the seg-
where otherwise stated. Revenues generated from ment for successful players.
other companies in the value chain (for example,
through commissions, fees, sales or advertising) are Market Competition and Concentration
not distinguished from those generated from com- Analysis
panies outside the value chain. In other words, this To provide a view of the level of competition
is not a “value-add” analysis for the Internet econ- in each category, we evaluated the combined
omy and there are overlaps among revenue cate- market share of the three largest companies, at
gories. For example, revenues from Content Rights global level.
overlap with revenues from Online Services. The HHI index system is a commonly used
For all Online Services categories, we have measure of market concentration. Due to the
calculated revenues generated from advertising global scope of our analysis and the nature of the
and from end-users. Advertising covers all for- industry, a full HHI indexing would, however, be
mats—that is, search, display, lead generation, impossible to conduct with high accuracy.
22 INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney

25. Therefore, we avoided using this methodology. Market Definitions
We do however believe that the results of an HHI The definition and market sizing methodology for
analysis would be in line with our current all service categories are provided here. We only
approach, in terms of providing a picture of the elaborate on the market sizing methodology for
relative level of concentration across Internet cases requiring a specific explanation and not based
value chain categories. on an established public source of information.
Content Rights
Segment Methodology/Description
Media rights owners • Market size is based on the percentage of revenues made by Online Services that is paid to Content Rights
owners, either as:
— Revenues from digital product sales after commission
— Content acquisition or license cost
• Online Services categories in scope are: VoD, MoD, IPTV, video gaming, casual games, filmed entertainment
sales, digital music sales, electronic book sales, global portals, consumer publishing, adult content
• For each category of Online Services we estimated the percentage of total online revenues that would be
subject to a revenue share with the corresponding Content Rights owners—based on publically available
information and interviews with key industry stakeholders
User-generated content • Revenue received by user-generated content owners is not included in the analysis—but is negligible as is
user generated content that is rarely remunerated
Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
Online Services
Segment Category Methodology/Description
VoD (video-
Enabling Technology/Services
Entertainment
on-demand)
• Websites providing audio-visual content on-demand through a streaming service, funded by either ads
or subscription. Excludes adult content (see below).
Segment Category
MoD (music- • Methodology/Description on-demand through a streaming service, funded by either ads
Websites providing audio content
on-demand) or subscription
Billing and Billing and • Consists of payment processing for online transactions
payments payments
IPTV • • Market sizing is based on total B2C an IP connection
Television services delivered through e-Commerce transaction value plus user-paid Online Services multiplied
by an estimated average transaction processing fee
Video gaming • Websites and applications providing the ability to play console or PC games on the Internet, usually with
Advertising Online ad • Companies providing an interactive streaming service and acquire online ad inventory for advertisers
other gamers, through services to plan online campaigns
agencies • • Companies that design, produce, host and serve onlineand game software (through a physical disk or
End users are generally required to purchase a console ads
download) in order to play
Online ad • • Companies providing intermediary online advertising servicessale of in-game virtual items
Includes subscription revenue, in-game online advertising and to advertisers
networks/ • • Includes with casual that acquire ad inventory from websitesanalysis to advertisers, platforms for buying and
Combined companies games under “gaming” for parts of the to resell
exchanges/ selling inventory, or tools to optimise online advertising effectiveness
Casual services
other games • • All market size numbers are gross revenues users through an interactive streaming service
Websites providing Internet-hosted games to end
• End users are not required to purchase a game or gaming device in order to play
Online ad • • Companies offering gaming under “gaming”ads parts of the analysis
Combined with video technology that places for on websites
servers • Includes third-party ad serving only. Excludes ad serving performed by interactive ad agencies.
Gambling • Includes websites providing all types of online gambling services, including betting, casino and other
Ratings/ • Companies offering data and analytics on Internet user and usage metrics
gambling services
analytics
services
Adult content • Websites providing adult content
Support Content
Video sales/ • • Companies that offer services that allow online and download digitalthe flow of content through the Internet
Websites providing the ability to either purchase services to optimise filmed entertainment products,
technology management
rental (digital) or(primarily content delivery networks)
rent physical filmed entertainment products. Excluded from e-Retail
Musicdesign and • • Companies createthe ability to purchase and download digital music products
Web sales Websites providing and code Internet pages
development
(digital) • Excluded from e-Retail
Web hosting
Book sales • • Companies that provide a service allowing individuals/organisations to store their websites on their servers
Websites providing the ability to purchase and download electronic books
(digital) and make them available on the Internet
• Excluded from e-Retail
General/vertical Consumer
Source: A.T. Kearney analysis • Websites operated by newspapers and magazines, usually with similar branding and content
content sites publishing • Revenues include advertising only
• The market for paid content on consumer publishing sites remains negligible although many publishers are
considering how to change this
Online dating • Websites offering match-making and communication services focusing on developing romantic relationships
INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney 23
Global Portals • Selected General Interest Portal and website operators with a global scope, including Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, IAC
and their subsidiaries

26. • End users are generally required to purchase a console and game software (through a physical disk or
download) in order to play
• Includes subscription revenue, in-game online advertising and sale of in-game virtual items
• Combined with casual games under “gaming” for parts of the analysis
Casual games • Websites providing Internet-hosted games to end users through an interactive streaming service
• End users are not required to purchase a game or gaming device in order to play
• Combined with video gaming under “gaming” for parts of the analysis
Gambling • Includes websites providing all types of online gambling services, including betting, casino and other
gambling services
Adult content • Websites providing adult content
Video sales/ • Websites providing the ability to either purchase and download digital filmed entertainment products,
rental (digital) or rent physical filmed entertainment products. Excluded from e-Retail
Music sales • Websites providing the ability to purchase and download digital music products
(digital) • Excluded from e-Retail
Online Services (continued)
Book sales • Websites providing the ability to purchase and download electronic books
Segment Category
(digital) Methodology/Description
• Excluded from e-Retail
Entertainment
General/vertical VoD (video-
Consumer • Websites providing by newspapers and magazines, usually with similar branding and contenteither ads
operated audio-visual content on-demand through a streaming service, funded by
content sites on-demand)
publishing • or subscription. Excludes adult content (see below).
Revenues include advertising only
• The market for paid content on consumer publishing sites remains negligible although many publishers are
MoD (music- • Websites providing change this on-demand through a streaming service, funded by either ads
considering how to audio content
on-demand) or subscription
Online dating • Websites offering match-making and communication services focusing on developing romantic relationships
IPTV • Television services delivered through an IP connection
Global Portals • Selected General Interest Portal and website operators with a global scope, including Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, IAC
Video gaming • Websitessubsidiaries
and their and applications providing the ability to play console or PC games on the Internet, usually with
• other gamers, includes an interactive streaming service types including webmail and instant messaging
Market sizing through revenues from all branded product
• Endexcludes Casual Games and search revenues, which aregame software (through a physical disk or
but users are generally required to purchase a console and captured elsewhere
download) in order to play
Search Directories • Includes subscription revenue, in-game online advertising and sale of in-game virtual items
Websites providing categorised, searchable lists of organisations—typically consists of “Yellow Pages”
• Combined with casual games under “gaming” for parts of the analysis
publishers’ websites
Casual games
Web search • Websites providing Internet-hosted games to end users through an interactive streaming service
Search engines providing the ability to find information/other websites on the Internet
• End users are not required to purchase a game or gaming device in order to play
Communications Social • Combinedprimarily focused on facilitating person-to-person communications through a variety of channels
Websites with video gaming under “gaming” for parts of the analysis
networking including one-to-one (e.g., in-site delayed and instant messaging) and one-to-many formats
Gambling • Includes websites providing all types of online gambling services, including betting, casino and other
VoIP • gambling services voice communication transmission services over IP networks
Companies providing
• Only includes third-party VoIP (i.e., VoIP based on bespoke applications downloaded by end-users from a website)
Adult content • Websites VoIP services operated by telecom operators
Excludes providing adult content
Transactions Video sales/
e-Brokerage • Websites providing the ability to either purchase and download digital filmed entertainment products,
buy and sell financial products on the Internet
(e-Commerce) rental (digital) or rent physical filmed entertainment products. Excluded from e-Retail
e-Retail • Websites selling goods/services over the Internet; includes marketplaces and auction sites
Music sales • Websites providing the abilitytransaction value download digital music products sold and fulfilment
Revenues are based on total to purchase and less direct cost of goods/services
(digital) • Excluded from e-Retail
The percentage to be subtracted is an estimate based on company reports for a selection of leading operators
Book sales
e-Travel • Websites providing the ability to purchase and the Internet
travel booking services on download electronic books
(digital) • Excluded frombased on total transaction value less direct cost of goods/services sold and fulfilment
Revenues are e-Retail
• The percentage to be subtracted is an estimate based on company reports for a selection of leading operators
General/vertical Consumer • Websites operated by newspapers and magazines, usually with similar branding and content
publishing
Source: A.T. sites analysis
content Kearney • Revenues include advertising only
• The market for paid content on consumer publishing sites remains negligible although many publishers are
considering how to change this
Online dating • Websites offering match-making and communication services focusing on developing romantic relationships
Global Portals
• Selected General Interest
Enabling Technology/Services their subsidiaries Portal and website operators with a global scope, including Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, IAC
and
• Market sizing includes revenues from all branded product types including webmail and instant messaging
Segment Category Methodology/Description search revenues, which are captured elsewhere
but excludes Casual Games and
Billing
Search and Billing and
Directories •• Websitesof payment processing for online transactions
Consists providing categorised, searchable lists of organisations—typically consists of “Yellow Pages”
payments payments • publishers’ websites on total B2C e-Commerce transaction value plus user-paid Online Services multiplied
Market sizing is based
by an estimated average transaction processing fee
Web search • Search engines providing the ability to find information/other websites on the Internet
Advertising Online ad • Companies providing services to plan online campaigns and acquire online ad inventory for advertisers
Communications agencies
Social •• Websites primarily focused on facilitating person-to-person communications through a variety of channels
Companies that design, produce, host and serve online ads
networking including one-to-one (e.g., in-site delayed and instant messaging) and one-to-many formats
Online ad • Companies providing intermediary online advertising services to advertisers
networks/
VoIP •• Companies providing that acquire ad inventory from websites to resell to advertisers, platforms for buying and
Includes companies voice communication transmission services over IP networks
exchanges/ • Only includes third-party VoIP optimise online on bespoke applications downloaded by end-users from a website)
selling inventory, or tools to (i.e., VoIP based advertising effectiveness
other services •• Excludes VoIP services operated by telecom operators
All market size numbers are gross revenues
Transactions Online ad
e-Brokerage •• Websites providing the ability tothat places ads on websites
Companies offering technology buy and sell financial products on the Internet
(e-Commerce) servers • Includes third-party ad serving only. Excludes ad serving performed by interactive ad agencies.
e-Retail • Websites selling goods/services over the Internet; includes marketplaces and auction sites
Ratings/ •• Revenues are baseddata andtransaction value lessuser and usage metrics
Companies offering on total analytics on Internet direct cost of goods/services sold and fulfilment
analytics • The percentage to be subtracted is an estimate based on company reports for a selection of leading operators
services
e-Travel • Websites providing travel booking services on the Internet
Support Content •• Revenues are based on total transaction value less directto optimise the flow of content through the Internet
Companies that offer services that allow online services cost of goods/services sold and fulfilment
technology management (primarily content delivery networks)
• The percentage to be subtracted is an estimate based on company reports for a selection of leading operators
Source: A.T. Kearney analysis design and
Web • Companies create and code Internet pages
development
Web hosting • Companies that provide a service allowing individuals/organisations to store their websites on their servers
and make them available on the Internet
Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
24 INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney

27. Connectivity
Segment Category Methodology/Description
Core network Core network • Companies that own and operate the core telecommunications network, providing wholesale services
to Retail Access Providers (which may be a division of the same company as the core network provider,
but typically with some degree of regulatory separation)
Interchange Interchange • Operators providing the “super-exchanges” of Internet traffic between core network operators
• There are limited standalone/independent interchange operators, besides Level 3 Communications and
XO Communications, which are both U.S. operators
• In the majority of other major markets, Interchange is provided by large network operators
Retail Internet Retail Internet • Companies providing access to the Internet, typically known as ISPs
access access • Includes both fixed and mobile Internet access; excludes charges for voice calls, TV and fixed line rental
• For the market concentration analysis, we took the leading players in three major markets (U.S., Japan
and France) and evaluated their share of the total global market. This is notwithstanding the fact that
retail access providers largely operate on a local basis.
Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
User Interface
Segment Category Methodology/Description
Devices Games • Personal gaming devices and software with the ability to connect to the Internet
consoles • Based on total worldwide sales multiplied by the percentage of gamers who play online
Operating • Based on total worldwide sales multiplied by the percentage of PCs bought by consumers (as opposed to
systems businesses), multiplied by the estimated percentage of consumer PC time spent on the Internet
• We assume for simplicity equal average purchase price for consumers and businesses
PCs • Based on total worldwide PC sales, multiplied by the percentage of PCs bought by consumers (as opposed
to businesses), multiplied by the estimated percentage of consumer PC time spent on the Internet
• We assume equal average purchase price for consumers and businesses
Smartphones • Mobile handsets offering Internet access
• Based on total worldwide smartphone sales, multiplied by the percentage of smartphones bought by
consumers (businesses excluded)
• We assume equal average price for consumers and businesses
Other Internet • Peripherals allowing other devices to connect to the Internet and enabling usage of online services
access (e.g., modems, routers and webcams)
hardware
Applications* Applications • Other applications providing tasks relating to Internet usage, including endpoint, messaging, web and
IAM software sales multiplied by the percentage of sales to consumers (as opposed to businesses)
• For this percentage we took the same percentage split as for Internet access hardware
*Also includes Internet browsers and media players, however these have generally not been provided on a paid-for, stand-alone basis
Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney 25

28. Business-to-Business and assumptions not covered in the overall report
The additional clarifications in the chart below methodology, or where our approach is different to
only relate to those B2B categories that we felt the equivalent category in the consumer Internet
required additional explanation of methodology economy.
Segment Category Methodology/Description
Content Rights Content Rights • Market size is based on the percentage of revenues made by Online Services paid to Content Rights
owners, either as:
— Revenues from digital product sales after commission
— Content acquisition or license cost
• The categories in scope are: corporate e-Learning, information services and professional digital book sales
• For each category we estimated the percentage of total online revenues that would be subject to a
revenue share with the corresponding Content Rights owners
Online Services Communications • Includes revenues from business VoIP (58 percent), email (17 percent), instant messaging (2 percent),
video conferencing (11 percent) and machine-to-machine communication (12 percent)
Corporate • Web-based enterprise education and training programmes
e-Learning • Includes professional digital book downloads
e-Commerce • Commercial transactions between businesses over the Internet, generally through electronic data interchange
• The approach and assumptions taken are for consumer B2B, i.e., transaction volume less cost of goods
sold and fulfilment costs
Information • Online business information services estimated based on percentage of sales that are online for a basket
services of information services genres (e.g., legal, tax, healthcare)
• Includes advertising revenues from digital trade magazines (accounting for less than 3 percent of total for
this category)
SaaS/MFT • Online revenues from businesses from Software-as-a-Service products and from professional Managed
File Transfer services
Devices Other Internet • Peripherals allowing other devices to connect to the Internet and enabling usage of Online Services
hardware (e.g., modems, routers and webcams)
• Business hardware includes enterprise video conferencing, Ethernet, enterprise storage and routing
Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
26 INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney

29. Sources of Information Secondary research covers a broad range of
Market sizing and profitability estimates in this publicly available research resources. Many market
report are based on a large set of recognized size and growth forecasts are from Telecoms/
sources of information—both primary and sec- Media/Technology industry research reports such
ondary. Primary research includes interviews with as PwC’s Global Media & Entertainment Outlook,
experts in the field of online media and the and general industry and category-specific fore-
Internet value chain, including both A.T. Kearney casts are from research companies such as Forrester,
and external experts. We thank interviewees for Gartner, Screen Digest, Business Insights and
their time and openness in supporting this Ovum. We also used relevant industry broker
research paper. reports. For Internet traffic and usage data, we
The data collected from financial statements used sources such as IDC, ComScore Media
and press releases by companies in the Internet Metrix, Nielsen Netratings, Hitwise, Zenith,
value chain has been primarily used to estimate Bloomberg, OneSource and Reuters Knowledge.
total market size and growth, market concentra- In addition to industry-specific reports, we
tion levels and ROCE for each category. For have also drawn on general economic/macro
market sizing, ROCE and market concentration research reports, including reports by the OECD,
analyses, we used 2008 data where possible. At ITU, Pew, IAB, U.S. Department of Commerce
the time of writing, this is the latest year for and Economist Intelligence Unit. Most exhibits
which full-year company financial data was include a reference to the primary sources used
widely available. For market growth estimates, we but some are composites of multiple sources,
used a five-year forecast covering the 2008-2013 together with A.T. Kearney assumptions and are
timeframe. therefore sourced as “A.T. Kearney analysis.”
INTERNET VALUE CHAIN ECONOMICS | A.T. Kearney 27

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