You might not guess it from the way they buy up search and ad inventory, but apparently Google CEO Eric Schmidt admitted that there are many ways to sell media, and that auction/exchange formats represent a big historic shift.

I tend to agree that the auction/exchange format represents a shift that is definitely challenging the way people in the media industry have been doing things. It seems like there is still a long way to go though, which is exciting to watch and be a part of.

What’s interesting about Schmidt’s comments, is that exchanges by nature have more value the more parties that are participating on them. Is there room for lots of different media exchanges? To advertisers, publishers, and brokers want to work with numerous exchanges? Will it just fragment and not end up working for anyone? I don’t think we know the answer…..yet.