$80 Billion? Online Display Market Is Being Overhyped

For All the New Media Spin, It's Just an 'Old' Media

By Abbey Klaassen 

Published: July 28, 2008

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The exuberance isn't so rational this time, either. 

It's déjà vu all over again as the web giants scurry to build massive internet-ad networks: Microsoft makes plays for Yahoo, both of them talk to AOL, Google tries to milk a display powerhouse from DoubleClick, and venture capitalists throw money at ad networks and exchanges.

Anne Benvenuto, exec VP-strategic services at R/GA

But amid the frenzy, it might be worth taking a look at whether today's economic and marketing developments are shrinking that pot of gold they're all after. Because guess what: The trough of ad dollars flowing from places such as TV and print to the web isn't bottomless after all. ...