As I predicted just last week, people are going to start talking more about remnant inventory and how to monetize it. My first example was Yahoo, and now AOL is saying they see a big future in ad networks.
The article seems to be talking about the role of networks with video advertising, but the concepts are the same for display or video. There is an explosion of ad inventory on the web as user-generated content continues to explode. It’s impossible for publishers to scale sales teams fast enough and well enough to sell out their inventory at rates they’d like to see. It’s only natural that whether it’s video or display ad networks, or better yet advertising exchanges, will be a huge factor in monetizing this inventory.
To quote consultant Shelley Palmer in the AOL article:
“The ad networks are the next big thing. It’s the only thing that makes any sense at all,” Mr. Palmer said. “Ad networks are going to be hugely important to the way you aggregate all your station affiliates. All that quantity needs to be qualitatively optimized.”
The networks/exchanges that can streamline the processes and monetize the inventory through relationships and optimization will win.