As the new dot com bubble begins to gather pace, fuelled by Web 2.0 technology, revenue from online content in Europe will reach $10.7 billion in 2010, says a new study for the European Commission.
Fuelled by Web 2.0 technology such as blogging, webcasts and social networking, this represents a 400 per cent growth in revenue in just five years.
With the spread of broadband internet, increase in mobile internet usage and the huge take-up of digital services, the study insists that the web is presenting "unique opportunities" for European business.
"The long-awaited digital convergence is becoming an economic reality, creating great opportunities for Europe's consumers, content providers and technology industries," said Viviane Reding, commissioner for information, society and media.
"To capitalise may require casting a fresh eye at the technical and legal issues where a modernised and internal market-oriented approach would add value to European content."
However, the study added that the continent still faces some obstacles standing in the way of this growth.
Intellectual property rights and interoperability still need to be addressed to accelerate the boom and the uptake of digital services such as broadband and PDAs still lags behind that of US and Japan.
Click here for more information
