• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, March 31, 2008

If there was one thing that both vertical and horizontal ad net reps could agree upon Thursday -- apart from their distain for Google -- is the overall health of online advertising.

Jocelyn Griffing, SVP, Online Media, ICON International, part of Omnicom: Budgets are up, we’re doing really well. I will say there does seem to be a bit of a pullback from some other the big players.

Cree Lawson, CEO, Travel Ad Network: “We’re not seeing a slowdown … I think it’s more indicative of the fact that travel media said they were going to spend an additional 15% online.�

Qualifying the enthusiasm slightly was James Fellow, VP of Product Management at AOL’s Platform A: It’s a tough time to break into the market, and advertising are focusing their buys.

The difference comes down to tTransparency,� according to Will Margiloff, CEO/Founder, agency Innovation Interactive. "It’s about how we’re able to buy it … Buying in an exchange is easier for our guys because they understand it.�