Sheesh, Tolman, you sure made some waves! The funny thing, though, is that waves are usually only made when someone puts an obvious truth out in the open that was previously unwilling to be discussed.  In this case, the media is crying that publishers are “getting squeezed” by all the other players in display space.  Why not look at it from an economics perspective, though?  The publishers aren’t getting squeezed; buyers are buying what they value.  What they value is the audience data, the ability to aggregate and optimize across hundreds or thousands of sites, and have it all delivered in one clean report.  Buyers apparently value this much more than whether their banner appears on people.com, perezhilton.com, or insertcelebrityraghere.com.  If they hit their eCPA, what’s the difference?

I believe this is simply the reality of the web catching up with those who have been trying to buy digital media for the last 15 years the same way they bought traditional media.  Because there haven’t been instantly measurable results in traditional media, content was king.  Now, results have dethroned the old regime and publishers are the ex-communicated.

Publishers will argue that this will lead to a world of all junk content.  I don’t see it that way.  I’m sure Perez doesn’t either.  What it will lead to is a broader base of lesser known brand name-based content, and not because consumers want these lesser-known brand names, but because these lesser-known brands will have a business model that can be profitable selling their display at significantly lower CPMs – rates buyers are willing to pay.

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