The Nielsen/Net Rating recently began reporting a new metric for internet advertisers: the total minutes each page is viewed. Online content providers are panicking, as this threatens to overturn their customary pay per page view model that has been so lucrative.

This caused me to wonder if such a change isn't due in more traditional ad venues. For example:

Outdoor advertisers -- Companies such as Clear Channel (NYSE: CCU) have long charged by number of cars passing by a location, but what if the speed of the traffic were factored in? On some of California's crawlways, a single billboard might be in view for half an hour. Why should it cost no more than one on freeways that actually flow?

Athlete endorsements –- Should Nike (NYSE: NKE) pay as much for the endorsements of accused dogfight promoter and Atlanta Falcon quarterback Michael Vick, whom I'll never again watch take another snap, as they do for LeBron James, whose every drive to the hoop I watch in awe?

Restaurant placemats -- We've all seen speed-eaters devour a blue plate special before the gravy has time to soak through the bread of their Kentucky Hot Brown, and others who pick at their pie until the fruit seeds germinate. Why should advertisers pay the same rate for the placemat ads for these two customers?

Airport advertising -- I'm betting that the price advertisers pay for display ads in airports isn't indexed against the vastly increased amount of stand-and-stare time in the post 9/11 world. Not to mention the hours of exposure when torn off the wall and used as a blankets by those stranded in the terminal for a couple of days.

Time viewing is the metric of the 2000s. Hopefully, you have read this post very carefully. Take the time to read it again. And thanks.