So Day 1 of ad|tech (New York) is almost over. My initial impression is there's an awful lot of bullishness and enthusiasm about the online advertising market. ad|tech's Drew Ianni kicked off the three-day event by talking about the market getting to $20-billion in short order, and how there appears to be a shortage of quality inventory (aka good places on the Web for companies to place advertising). Judging by the number of people attending the conference and the number of exhibitors, the online advertising business is extremely healthy. By "business", I mean companies such as ad agencies, Web sites/networks and technology/service providers. On the other hand, advertisers - the ones spending the money - continue to be cautious, pragmatic and still in need of more education/hand-holding before they commit more of their budgets to online vehicles. One of the highlights was a session on user-generated content featuring Ze Frank. With his current "project" slated to end in March after a one-year run, Ze is apparently working on a "secret RSS" project. He also talked being interested in micro online communities with about 1,000 users. Tags: video, advertising, ze frank

Another part of the newspaper advertising "conversation" is how newspapers are losing readers to online news aggregators such as Google News and Yahoo News. This trend has been thrust into the spotlight again on news that Topix.net has raised another $15-million in private equity from its three newspaper owners - Gannett, Tribune and McClatchy, which already owned a 75% stake. While there may be little newspapers can do to staunch the loss of subscribers, there are things they can do to ride the online wave. Topix is a clearly good example of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em".

To be honest, the headline in today's New York Times "Newspapers to Test Plan to Sell Ads on Google" puzzled me at first blush. So, let me get this straight: Google, the world's leading online advertising company, is going to get into the declining newspaper advertising market? It seemed like a strange development at first glance, but really not so strange after taking into account the newspaper market is still worth $48-billion despite the dark cloud hanging over the industry. As a result, Google will test a plan that will see it become a middleman to help companies place newspaper ads. It should come as no surprise that the big newspaper chain, Gannett, the Tribune Co., The New York Timesy, the Washington Post and Hearst, have agreed to a three-month test given the newspaper industry is suffering from declining paid circulation and advertising as the Web gains more momentum. The question can Google be the newspaper industry's salvation? If the newspaper market is shrinking, how can it be attractive? Truth be told, Google, isn't looking to do newspapers any favours; it's simply using its brand and clout with advertisers to diversify its advertising "engine" to markets where it can generate more business - be it newspapers, magazines, radio (dMarc) or the Web. For newspapers, they clearly need any help they can get to adjust to the new media landscape. Before anyone gets too excited about Google's newspaper strategy, what ever became of its thrust into magazine advertising, which you hear nothing about these days?
By the way, despite all the hue and cry about the decline of newspapers. the New York Times' Sunday newspaper still remains an impressive beast - huge, chalk-a-block of advertising, lots of great stories.