• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, November 3, 2009

Despite the sale-channel conflicts and the premium price erosion that ad networks bring about, their benefits -- like alleviating market complexity, and improving operational efficiency -- guarantee their continued use, according to Robert Coolbrith, VP of Equity Research at ThinkEquity.

A clear majority -- 72% -- of marketers say efficiency is the reason they rely on ad network, according to a recent Collective Media study. By contrast, only 13% attributed efficiency to portal buys. Likewise, in recent years, ad network have helped performance based metrics -- like cost-per-click and cost-per-acquisition -- overtake the once dominant CPM model.

Coolbrith says there are four possibilities for the future: The market will remain unchanged; publishers will create new sales channels to better differentiate between premium and non-premium content; the creation of a “real-time” audience targeting and delivery ecosystem; or a hybrid approach that would consist of some combination of the above scenarios.