The front pages of major Web portals have been sold out of their prime real estate for months and even years on end. Ad buyers are complaining that bookings on Yahoo, AOL, and MSN are placed so far in
advance their campaigns run the risk of no longer being relevant once the time comes to post the ads. This kind of supply issue inevitably leads to huge rate increases on prime real estate. "It's
starting to get into Super Bowl territory," one buyer says. Indeed: MSN is now charging up to $1 million for a 24-hour spot on its home page, Yahoo said prices increased by double digits in the third
quarter over last year, and AOL said prices are up 20 percent since January for prime units. Good things for the $12-billion-and-rising Internet ad market? Certainly, but still, 96 percent of spending
online goes to the top 50 Web companies.
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