That's been the fundamental debate taking place at OMMA Ad Nets in Los Angeles this morning. During his opening keynote, MDC's Brandon Berger seemed to suggest that the business was moving to a point where 80% of online media buys will be based on automated demand-side platforms, and that only 20% -- the most premium, contextual part of the buys -- are done on a high-touch, human, direct sales, and highly contextualized basis. You know, the way media has primarily been bought and sold for the past 100 years. Others aren't so sanguine. Agency Roundtable moderator Corey …

During the Agency Roundtable: Managing the Audience and Contextual Mix at Ad Nets in Los Angeles, Dave Martin, senior vice president of media at Ignited, told attendees there's a huge problem with creative in digital. Mostly because the industry creates brand ads that we hold people click and click ads that hope brand the company. There a huge opportunity to target consumers through better ads, whether the media focuses on the creepiness that the advertisers knows the consumers are shopping for a vacation or a red car.

That's what MDC digital chief Brandon Berger seemed to be suggesting when he did a recap of just how much the media marketplace has changed. "It used to be a great business," Berger stated, as his Powerpoint flashed to an image of an eagle-eyed GroupM global chief Irwin Gotlieb (aka the most powerful man in media) peering down from a Manhattan window sill. That was the old world, Berger seemed to imply, noting that the marketplace has shifted from buying media to "buying audiences." "The problem is reach is easy for us to get," he said noting …

"Our brand is back," said Tom, a representative from the AOL-owned ad network brand, which was the pioneer of the advertising network business, but has taken a little less of the limelight since being acquired by AOL years ago. The change was apparent during OMMA Ad Nets in Los Angeles this morning, if for no better reason than the fact that Advertising.com was sponsoring the conference as part of its high profile tack in the industry.