Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) has dominated the internet advertising space for quite a while via AdSense and AdWords but judging from interpreting a recent news event, Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) is finally going to be able bring it on. Yesterday it was announced that Yahoo! completed its purchase of RightMedia, in complete, for another $650 million. Although Yahoo! has already been a part-owner in the company, and the news that the complete acquisition was to occur was known by the public, the completion is very significant for the future of the internet advertising space.

When I used to run my own website I was very in-touch with the recent additions to the advertising space. In my opinion, RightMedia has one of the most interesting and innovative models for both advertisers and publishers. Essentially, RightMedia has created an open marketplace for all parties involved in internet advertising. As we've all learned from eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY), open marketplaces are much more interesting for everyone involved - the bidders clearly see what they are receiving and for what price while the sellers are able to maximize the amount paid for any item.

Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) deal to buy DoubleClick seemed certain to get a government review. Google is too dominant in text advertising and DoubeClick too big in display ad serving and targeting. Of course, competitors like Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) said it would put too much online advertising power in one set of hands.

Now the eyes of the Federal Trade Commission have turned on Microsoft and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO). Their respective deals to buy aQuantive (NASDAQ: AQNT) and Right Media are going to get the antitrust once over, at the very least.

Right now, the FTC's review of the Google deal is more formal [subscription required] than the other two, but that could change. More than one industry association has asked that the government to take a close look at all three transactions.

Although the odds are that none of the M&A activity that is designed to bring advertising targeting under the umbrellas of big web portals will be stopped, perhaps the FTC work will be more than a formality. When these three transactions are added to AOL's ownership of Advertising.com, the concentration of private data about individual's web habits will be in very few corporate hands.

Perhaps there should be a divide between those that have the information and those who have the advertising inventory. But, that would be in a too perfect world.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) recent $3.1 billion deal for DoubleClick has certainly opened a Pandora's box for the online marketing space. Stocks like 24/7 Real Media (Nasdaq: TFSM) and aQuantive (Nasdaq: AQNT) have been juiced up and rumors are buzzing.

Now we have another data point to work with: Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) is shelling out $680 million for Right Media, a privately-held company. In fact, back in October, Yahoo purchased a 20% stake in the company.

Yahoo! Inc.'s (NASDAQ:YHOO) decided to shell out $680 million to buy the 80% of online advertising auction company, Right Media, that it does not already own. There is a temptation to view this a a counter to Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) purchase of ad serving company DoubleClick, but the deals are hardly comparable.

Google bought the better business. The ad-serving industry, in which DoubleClick is the largest player, touches almost every significant site on the internet. DoubleClick has its own ad exchange business that will compete with Right Media.

Right Media is in an unattractive niche. It acts an an auction market for online advertising inventory. But, the largest websites are unlike to sell at auction what they can market directly. This would, in most cases, leave firms like Right Media with fairly unattractive inventory. User-generated content created many of these advertising impressions, but it is still unclear what value MySpace pages have to advertising.

Yahoo! has to make some bets to improve its position against Google, AOL, and MSN, but the ad auction marketplace does not seem to be a good place to start.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.