• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, September 28, 2010

I'm hearing a note of desperation that I hadn't heard before about the online display advertising mess. This morning's OMMA Global New York panel – the one moderated by mess maestro Terrence Kawaja, is using the word "profiteering" to describe the array of technology companies that have sprung up to help manage and provide structure to the online display advertising marketplace.

The word – "profiteering" – was mentioned more than once. Several times, in fact.

I get it. Yes, these middlemen and third-party intermediaries are extracting significant tolls – as much as 30% margins on the cost of transacting an online display ad – but they only exist because they are enabling a marketplace that wouldn't otherwise exist. How is that profiteering? Isn't that about, well, profits? And if you don't like their margins and mark-ups, how about not using them? Oh yeah, that's right, that would mean leaving some inventory unsold (if you're on the sell side), or an audience impression un-tapped and un-served (on the buy side). And who wants that.

How about this, let the market evolve to the point where it is more mature and the margins begin to slide because of natural marketplace efficiencies? Isn't that what usually happens?