If the publisher-ad network relationship in mobile is a marriage, it’s more that of Al and Peg Bundy than the cozy depiction of marriage in the typical 1960s sitcom, says Isobar’s Kevin Ryan. In other words, it’s not happiness ever after. Indeed, publishers and mobile ad network operators failed to get along at the OMMA Mobile conference in Los Angeles on Thursday. Jeff Litvak from the Associated Press indicated that publishers’ early reliance on mobile ad nets has more to do with sales teams that are still unequipped to sell mobile content at a premium, than it does …

Jeff Litvack, GM, Mobile & Emerging Products, The Associated Press said to the mobile ad net reps on stage that "our interests our starting to disalign." He suggested that the most used mobile applications, news and weather -- a good example of that 10 percent of apps which are used on a continuing basis -- were represented on the stage with himself and Josh Schoenberg, Director of Business Development, The Weather Channel Interactive. He then cited the movement for publishers to band together and take back some of the ad network space in mobile. No deal was imminent from the …

There's always that moment of clarity. Moderator Kevin Ryan of WebVisible, in the midst of a discussion about new ideas for ad networks and their advertising clients, observes: "We have a lot of people talking about these neat things, which is the typical model for thought leadership, but is anyone actually putting resources against it?" The consensus of the panelists is yes, in their way: advertisers are definitely spending money on mobile ad networks and mobile in general, but the personnel and money they commit to it are often doubled up with other projects. This allows the advertisers to economize …

Where is mobile measurement - after the click? “Nothing in mobile is being measured post-click,” says Tony Nethercutt, vp of sales for AdMob. “Is a video being viewed? Is a form being fill out?’ Nethercutt says little is being done in this areas. “What about the 10 pages” that are viewed after someone clicks on a banner ad, he says.

Kevin Ryan, CMO, WebVisible, the moderator for the mobile ad net panel likened social media to Paris Hilton: "It's really well-known but what does it do?"

Josh Schoenberg, the director of business development for The Weather Channel, is providing the skeptical counterpoint to mobile ad network sunshine: “We don’t use ad networks at all… we continue to believe we can maintain premium price levels maintaining our own approach.” Paran Johar of Jumptap raised another point: big publishers are forming their own ad networks. David Gwozdz of Mojiva acknowledged that "there is definitely a movement afoot among publishers to take back some of that business," but added that "they don't have the tools yet," giving the third party networks a foot in the door.

Gene Keenan of Isobar presented a sobering quote during his keynote today. "By 2013 the carriers will be out of bandwidth," according to Chetan Sharma. The data load is growing exponentially, and to make it possible to do what we want it might be necessary to bring metered access to the mobile Web, says Keenan. But he points out that, "Everything's the same until everything changes."

Jeff Litvack, GM, Mobile & Emerging Products, The Associated Press, says companies aren't focused on revenue from mobile. They are not managing the inventory. "We need to make sure there's a business model," he says. "In the future, banners will become like text, cheap, throwaway with very little value."

Kevin Ryan, VP of Mobile Services, Isobar Global, suggested from the stage during OMMA Mobile that the relationship between online publishers and mobile ad nets is like a marriage. Josh Schoenberg of the Weather Channel suggested maybe that relationship was more like dating, given its tumultuous one-night-stand nature. "Well," said Ryan, "I was thinking more of the marriage between Al and Peg Bundy."

The first three panelists to speak on the ad network panel at OMMA Mobile all resorted to folksy aphorisms as they gave an overview of the market. David Gwozdz, CEO, Mojiva, said “I don’t think networks will make or break anything,” explaining that “We [networks] are an indicator of demand and supply… There are a lot of publishers right now who rely heavily on ad networks, because they’re trying to build up their mobile strategy.” Paran Johar, CMO of Jumptap, added that the market is entering a phase that will “separate the men from the boys,” as weaker, redundant ad …