Initiative's Ben Winkler has been chockfull of insights during this morning's agency panel at OMMA Ad Nets. Explaining the real value agencies place on data exchanges – and the value they place on online display advertising buys – Winkler said it's a bit like contextual targeting. "Just like content is a proxy for audience, data is just a proxy for audience," Winkler noted. The gap, I'm assuming, still needs to be filled by strategic planners and thinkers – ie. actual human beings.

That's right, Initiative Director of Digital Strategy Ben Winkler isn't so keen on attribution, the process – or concept – of determining when an impression actually influences a consumer to do something. In the case of search, attribution may be more fully formed concept, Winkler said, because of the whole "navigational" nature of search media. But when it comes to online display advertising, he's not so keen. "This attribution stuff hasn't been cracked. It doesn't get me excited," he said.

Seems like the pioneers of the ad network marketplace may have gotten the whole thing wrong. Advertisers and agencies apparently don't want to use ad networks to buy online display advertising cheaper. They would actually like to pay more for it. Huh? That's right. That's what the agency panel at OMMA Ad Nets is saying. "The conversation about CPMs is boring and beside the point," Initiative Senior Vice President-Director of Digital Ben Winkler suggested, adding, that if agencies really wanted to buy online display advertising cheaper, they'd simply place buys across CPA networks, and go home and "shower" …

Well, I heard Mark Papia, former head of performance marketing at Fox Interactive Media, founder of the Fox Audience Network, and OMMA Ad Nets opening keynoter, loud and clear. What he said, was, "no comment." Needless to say, he wasn't commenting on Monday's announcement by the Rubicon Project that it has finally consummated its deal to acquire FAN from News Corp. "For the record, I have no comment," Papia declared, offering his best poker face, before making a cryptic reference to his true emotions regarding the sale of his baby. THaving lived through these last several weeks, …

Advertising.com director of sales strategy Greg Skipper demonstrated is strategic selling skills during his opening remarks as conference sponsor at OMMA Ad Nets in New York. Disclosing some behind the scenes negotiating and strategizing leading up to the OMMA sponsorship, Skipper said that after agreeing to "terms" on the deal, the Advertising.com team considered taking his 120-seconds worth of opening remarks time and putting it up for bid on the Right Media exchange. "Possibly a DSP would come in and bid it up," Skipper quipped, suggesting Advertising.com might actually get a higher yield by going to real-time bidding route …

OMMA Ad Nets got off to a perplexing note in New York this morning. Conference chair and programmer Steve Smith, noting that the first OMMA Ad Nets launched nearly two years to this day, reminded attendees that back then the conference predicted there would be in an inevitable shakeout in the burgeoning supply of ad networks. Back then, Smith noted that there were perhaps 350 or 400 ad nets. Today, by some estimates there are more than 650 - and still growing fast. So clearly, these are not the dog days of the ad networks business, even though it …