The information highway will be able to sort consumers according to much finer individual distinctions, and to deliver each to a different stream of advertising. This will benefit all parties: the viewers, because ads will be better tailored to their specific interests, and therefore more interesting; producers and on-line publications, because they will be able to sell advertisers focused blocks of viewers and readers. Advertisers will be able to spend their ad dollars more efficiently. Preference data can be gathered and disseminated without violating anyoneÕs privacy, because the interactive network will be able to use information about consumers to route advertising without revealing which specific households received it. A restaurant chain would know only that a certain number of middle-income families with small children received their ad.
Predictor: Gates, Bill
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “The Road Ahead,” Microsoft CEO Bill Gates writes:ÒThe information highway will be able to sort consumers according to much finer individual distinctions, and to deliver each to a different stream of advertising. This will benefit all parties: the viewers, because ads will be better tailored to their specific interests, and therefore more interesting; producers and on-line publications, because they will be able to sell advertisers focused blocks of viewers and readers. Advertisers will be able to spend their ad dollars more efficiently. Preference data can be gathered and disseminated without violating anyoneÕs privacy, because the interactive network will be able to use information about consumers to route advertising without revealing which specific households received it. A restaurant chain would know only that a certain number of middle-income families with small children received their ad.Ó
Biography:Bill Gates, the most influential technology entrepreneur of the late 20th century, was the primary author of the prediction-packed 1995 book “The Road Ahead” and is the founder and CEO of Microsoft Corporation. (Entrepreneur/Business Leader.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Advertising/PR
Name of publication: The Road Ahead (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 8: Friction-Free Capitalism
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 171, 172
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne