In battle for upfront ad sales, TV still bests Internet

In spite of the trend in the advertising industry to multi-platform ad buys, mixed between TV, the Internet and mobile, the majority of the ad sales for the fall have been slated for TV, with minimal digital ads on the Internet sold separately. With 80% of ad time already spent for the upcoming television season during the "upfront" time period, the Internet looks forgotten. Why?

"We didn't push them," Mike Shaw, president of sales and marketing at The Walt Disney Company's (NYSE: DIS) ABC TV told USA Today, because supply is flexible, "digital offerings aren't as demand-based."

Broadcasters took in a total $9.3 billion, up nearly 5% from last year, after most analysts expected a flat season.

Despite the expectations for Internet ad spending to hit double digits by 2011, according to a forecast released last month, current results aren't indicative of that. It could be due to Nielsen improving the TV advertising market by creating new TV ad ratings, called "Live-Plus-Three," which is now accepted as the standard.

The real question though, is when will the TV advertising bubble pop? It could be sooner than you think. Publishing 2.0 believes that once online video providers create industry standards similar to what Nielson has done for the TV industry, ad dollars will vanish from traditional markets like television as quick as you can click your mouse. Is this likely to happen? Stay tuned, so to speak.