• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 27, 2007

If only for lack of choice in the matter, media buyers have been expressing confidence in Yahoo's new head of sales, David Karnstedt, and the company's latest restructuring.

"For proactive agency units, David is not a new guy," said Curt Hecht, chief digital officer at GM Planworks, Starcom MediaVest Group's dedicated media unit for General Motors and a longtime Yahoo partner. "At SMG we know him well, and believe he can lead Yahoo to integrate search and display the way we have been [doing] for clients in our communication plans the past few years."

"His level of immersion on our clients has been at least equal to Wenda," Hecht added, referring to Wenda Harris Millard--the six-year Yahoo veteran who, despite departing for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, appears to have solidified the company's ties with Madison Ave.

Still, entrenched media buyers appear to be more interested in the promise of Yahoo's new sales structure than in any one individual.

"The big story is consolidation," said Steve Ustaris, group media director for Carat Fusion. "If Yahoo does this right, and offers integrated programs across the board, it could allow us to get better deals for our clients."

Said Hecht: "We see consolidation (display/search) as smart, since we present consolidated communication plans to clients that typically have consolidated marketing operations."

Properly integrating the search and display sides of Yahoo's business is expected to take several months, Gregory Coleman, Yahoo's executive vice president of global sales, told OnlineMediaDaily earlier this week.

Karnstedt, who earned his chops with such Internet pioneers as Lycos and Alta Vista, will continue to report to Coleman as head of North American sales. He joined Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) in September 2001.