• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 17, 2008

That's the view of a major, Web-centric media shop â€" Publicis' Spark Communications unit. Or at least it was the contrarian view offered by Spark Director Jason Steinberg during opening panel discussion â€" “Portals In Peril?” â€" at OMMA Publishing this morning.

“The deep portalization of the Internet? I simply don't see that happening at this time. I think portals are a vital part of the Internet,” Steinberg said, noting that portals still are the starting page for most Internet users, and that traffic still attracts about one out of every three online advertising dollars to one of the big portals.

“I don't think portals are going to go away. They will continue to be strong,” Steinberg predicted, sounding a bit like his TV buying counterparts at sister agency Starcom when they talk about the deep portalization of television (ie. audience fragmentation) and its impact on the big broadcast networks.