• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, April 6, 2005

With America Online planning to launch a portal that will be open to the general public later this year, MediaPost and Deutsche Bank asked the 108 media executives who responded to our survey what impact they think the new service will have on the media buying landscape. (See related OMD story, "Internet Ad Spending Up In First Quarter.")

We found a wide variety of opinions. Some respondents believed there would be no impact; some predicted that prices of display advertising would go down due to increased inventory; and some focused on greater targeting opportunities.

"Competition is always good, especially among quality products," wrote one respondent, adding that the move should result in "lower CPMs" and will also "help spur continued innovation."

Another added that AOL's entry as a portal "should advance the industry by providing more opportunity to test the medium."

Several respondents predicted greater chances to target by demographic group--although, as one pointed out, this ability will depend on how AOL structures the site. "If registration is still required," wrote the resondent, there will be, "more targeting opportunities."

Some were skeptical that AOL will attract consumers. "Those who left AOL because of its limitations will continue to use other portals," wrote one. Another respondent added: "Remember, in order for Free AOL to grow, market share has to be taken from the MSNs and Yahoo!s of the world. A battle I am glad AOL faces and I do not."