THE internet is set to revolutionize television within five years, due to an explosion of online video and the merging of PCs and TV sets, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said at the weekend.

"I'm stunned how people aren't seeing that with TV, in five years from now, people will laugh at what we've had," he told business leaders and politicians at the World Economic Forum.

 

The rise of high-speed internet and the popularity of video sites such as Google's YouTube have already led to a worldwide decline in the number of hours young people watch TV.

In the years ahead, more viewers will prefer the flexibility offered by online video and abandon conventional broadcast television, with its fixed program slots and advertisements that interrupt shows, Mr. Gates said.

"Certain things like elections or the Olympics really point out how TV is terrible. You have to wait for the guy to talk about the thing you care about or you miss the event and want to go back and see it," he said.

"Internet presentation of these things is vastly superior."

Watching video clips on a computer is a separate experience from watching sitcoms or documentaries on television. But convergence is coming, posing new challenges for TV companies and advertisers.

"Because TV is moving into being delivered over the internet — and some of the big phone companies are building up the infrastructure for that — you're going to have that experience all together," Mr. Gates said.

YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley said the impact on advertising would be profound, with many more targeted ads tailored to each viewer's profile in future.

"In the coming months we're going to do experiments to see how people interact with these ads to build an effective model that works for advertisers and works for users," he said. Much more advertising cash is tipped to migrate from television to websites in the future.

REUTERS