It’s Not TV

But consumers are tuning in. Video is the common thread in the tangled web that ties OMMA’s 2006 best online publishers together.

This month, OMMA selects the online publishers, portals, and sites we believe exemplify excellence and innovation in their respective categories.

These online venues offer visitors loads of diverse content and engaging video experiences on a consistent basis.

Our picks are leaders who have aggressively deployed new ad formats and video features, striking a thoughtful balance between readers’ interests and advertisers’ needs. They’re also finding ways to incorporate user-generated functions and provocative features — no small feat, especially in the news and information category.

Selecting the best sites for 2006 wasn’t an easy task. We nominated five online destinations in 10 categories, but highlighted a single site in each segment that represents the best of the pack. This year we added a video category based on the surge in both consumer- and brand-generated content of this nature.

The best-of-breed sites represent a unique blend of editorial content, with innovative advertising integration and the incorporation of video features. And while we assessed online traffic and advertising revenues, these factors weren’t overriding influences.

Ultimately, we came up with a variety of criteria and based our choices on highly subjective observations and experiences.

Here are our winners.