The Future of Display Advertising for Publishers?

With so much innovation occurring in the display online advertising market I find myself wondering what, if any, are the advantages of running guaranteed display impressions on specific publishers such as Yahoo!, Microsoft, People.com etc. Through Ad Networks, advertisers can now buy impressions on a dynamic CPM, therefore ensuring that the advertiser is only paying for what the impression is actually worth to them, setting a maximum DCPM that they refuse to exceed. If Ad Networks can advertise to your target customer in a similar manner that publishers can advertise to your target customers and these Ad Networks can also ensure that your advertisement will not end up on an illegitimate or risky site for what is frequently a much cheaper ECPM why would an advertiser choose to buy inventory only from a publisher? In the end advertisers are going to want to spend the least amount of money and get the highest ROI. The shift from advertisers buying display advertising directly through publisher’s sales forces to those buying through Ad Networks continues to grow and as advertisers become smarter and more comfortable with the online space it is inevitable that advertisers will continue to move further down this channel, embracing the new technology being lauded by Demand Side Platforms. (DSPs)