Next month OzTam will launch a digital TV ratings service called video player measurement (VPM) which will record audiences on internet-delivered TV, such as tablets, smartphones and computers.
"We believe that the combination of Microsoft and Facebook strengths will be incredibly attractive to advertisers as they forge more meaningful connections with one of the largest, most engaged audiences on the Internet," Berkowitz said.
One reason "there's a real backlash against this medium today," Mr. Baker said, is that so far no one has found "a way to communicate with audiences on the Internet".
But the popularity of the dance genre and the promise of connecting audiences on the Internet, he said, had enormous profit potential.
Social networking sites, which have some of the largest and fastest-growing audiences on the Internet, are also trying to get in the picture and make a grab for ad revenue.
Separating AOL from Time Warner's film, television and publishing divisions, just as rival content companies are rushing to build audiences on the internet, would also be a mistake, some analysts reckon.Nonetheless, says Peter Kreisky, a media consultant, "Icahn delivered a healthy jolt to Time Warner, and got it out of a rut".
Whilst internet access speeds have finally caught up with the provision of video online in the last few years, the bandwidth required for HD is at a level which automatically limits audience based on internet access speed.
According to dozens of published reports, the demand that an Oprah-sized audience put on the Internet and the related infrastructure was just too great and the system crashed.
Is there an audience on the Internet?
It built its audience on the internet: a mysterious trailer for another, unidentified movie led to a website and started an online treasure-hunt for more clues.
