• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, November 6, 2008

Most industry people don’t know the difference between ad exchanges and ad networks, according a recent informal study conducted by Marla Schimke, VP, Marketing, Revenue Science, and moderator of OMMA Ad Nets noon panel, “Roll Your Own Network: Enter the Ad Exchange.”

(By a show of hands, few if any conference attendees can tell the difference, either.)

What’s the distinction?

Media vs. technology, according to Ramsey McGrory, VP, Yahoo U.S. Partnerships.

Along with the tech platform, it’s about “how we interact with the buying community,” according to Michael Rubenstein, Director, DoubleClick Ad Exchange. A true ad exchange has created a marketplace, but is not actually selling the media, he says.