By Lewis Rothkopf
December 21, 2009
In Silicon Valley, there’s an old adage that says all great internet companies eventually build an e-mail service. Nearly every major player from Google to Comcast, Facebook to MySpace, Yelp to LinkedIn, has some form of user-to-user e-mail within its site or application. Today, I propose a new maxim — all great internet companies eventually build (or buy) an ad network.
The evidence is inescapable: Google, AOL, Yahoo, MSN, Fox, CBS, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Cox and many more all have networks of ad placements. In fact, even Forbes.com, the single most vocal publisher about the negative impact of ad networks, launched the Forbes Audience Network in late 2007.
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