The results are in and congratulations are in order. The Forbes.com Best of the Web results, that is.
Not surprisingly, the following companies made it into the Media and Advertising category:
- OneMediaPlace.com (formerly AdAuction.com, an online marketplace for media planners, buyers and sellers, specializing in online, outdoor, TV, radio and print advertising); - AdOutlet.com (an
exchange for buyers and sellers of all forms of media, including TV, radio, Internet and print) and - BuyMedia.com, (an exchange for radio, broadcast TV and cable advertising time).
Anybody
notice a pattern? All of the above are of a peculiar breed of companies called ad exchanges and the first two just recently steered their business models away from selling remnant inventory in
auction-like settings.
Interestingly enough, OneMediaPlace - a pioneer of online ad exchanges as we know them - got a special nod of approval from the Forbes.com editors for changing its
name and business model. In his introduction of the above list, Michael Grebb said even though the web is still learning how to work the advertising market, it's already clear that the auction
model is "a lousy lure for media buyers, who look for choice placements in prime markets."
That sentiment doesn't really bode well for dozens of remnant space networks springing up all over the
web, but time will tell. Other companies honored in the Media & Advertising category were BeFree.com, LinkShare.com and GettyImages.com, all of which make their living off affiliate marketing - an
ad model analysts predict will continue to displace traditional banner ads.