This title challenges everything you thought you knew about the online economy. The internet was supposed to fragment audiences and make media monopolies impossible. Instead, behemoths like Google and Facebook now dominate the time we spend online-and grab all the profits from the attention economy. This provocative and timely book explains how this happened and sheds light on the stunning rise of the digital giants and the online struggles of nearly everyone else-and what small players can do to survive in a game rigged against them. It shows how seemingly tiny advantages in attracting users can snowball over time. The internet has not reduced the cost of reaching audiences-it has merely shifted who pays and how. The author demonstrates what it really takes to grow a digital audience and stay alive in today's online economy, and why, even on the internet, there is still no such thing as a free audience.