• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 19, 2010

"Where did the 400 number come from, anyway," Andy Atherton, COO of Brand.net, during a panel discussion of publishers and ad nets during OMMA Ad Nets. The 400, of course, was the apocryphal 400 advertising networks that currently exist in the online display advertising marketplace.

"I mean, I'm in the business, and I can think of maybe a couple of dozen good ones," Atherton said, implying that the oft-quoted number maybe suspect.

"Where did the 400 number come from," Undertone Networks' Eric Franchi, echoed – genuinely forgetting the original source.

"ThinkEquity," someone from the audience crowed, reminding us all of the research analysts that put the number into the industry conversation in the first place.