Many businesses, it seems, haven't figured out the economics of moving online, but according to Amnesia's Iain McDonald, that's just one of the many things holding back Australia's digital advertising industry.

Last week, we discussed how key factors such as government and education policies are costing the growth of Australia's digital advertising industry.

Large businesses
Big businesses hate change. It makes them very nervous. So rather than embrace change, big businesses prefer to wait and see what the others do first.
Bottom line: The consumer wonders why they still can't order online from their favourite retailer. Their favourite retailer still believes they prefer to come into the store and browse around.

Distribution/content industry
For many years, the recording and movie industry thought the solution to embracing online was simply to lodge a lawsuit against anyone downloading an mp3 or avi. The labels are changing…slowly, but the result is that years have been wasted and the digital landscape for a consumer is still one very much in the development. Meanwhile, the local music/ video rental store near you is closing soon.
Bottom line: Consumers are ready and willing to pay for content but they still have little idea what the deal is. The ripple effects of those wasted years are everywhere.

Banks, credit cards and payment gateways
Let's face it, there is plenty of available technology to safeguard the consumer better online, but rollout is slow. Banks generally have done at best an average job at communicating the safety of online transactions, let alone providing better tools. Their slowness to provide more robust services has not helped the likes of the music industry.
Bottom line: The financial sector has a vital role in how the digital industry matures. Step up! The industry and the consumer need you.

Everything is free
Yes, everything has to be paid for somewhere along the line. Problem is, nobody really wants to pay for anything online (remember when businesses wanted to charge consumers to subscribe to their sites), and literally anything that can be watched or downloaded can be cracked/ copied. That doesn't help.
Bottom line: An ad-funded internet does not work for everyone. Many businesses can't figure out the economics of moving online so why should they bother?

Format wars
Blue-Ray, HDTV, DivX, H.264 -- it all makes for a hotbed of innovation but it doesn't half confuse Average Joe who just wants to watch a movie. The digital consumer's basic need is fairly simple -- consistency. They don't want to choose formats or protocols, let alone be burdened with useless ones.
Bottom line: Too much choice isn't always a good thing.

Traditional agencies
I saved my personal bugbear until last. Now to be fair, my experience is that most people who work for traditional agencies love digital. After all, they too are daily consumers of the medium. The problem is that these businesses have run for years by spending their clients' money in other ways. Along comes a completely new geeky, measurable, reportable medium that requires alien staff with strange new skills and very different knowledge compared to theirs. These agencies are every bit guilty as those record labels trying to protect their turf when they should have been investing in/ advocating digital long ago.
Bottom line: Old habits die hard. Despite some change, most agencies still think, "Where can I buy ad-space" and miss the bigger picture.

All these things will sort themselves out. For the most part, they are speed bumps, not showstoppers. There are plenty of positive ways to look at some of the points above, so for many companies (like us at Amnesia) they are opportunities. In fact, if it weren't for a couple of these bumps I probably wouldn't be here writing this article.

Iain McDonald is co-managing director of Amnesia (Avenue A Razorfish, Australia). Read full bio.