As an industry we’ve got a real problem here in defining ‘value’ and ‘quality’ to both advertiser and publisher. Value to a direct marketer is in cost per acquistion, value to a brand is in environment, impact and awereness shifts (something that as an industry we shy away from).

For publishers, what we think is ‘quality’ may not deemed so by advertisers. A ’smiley’ site might be ‘quality’ for Jamster or Ladbrokes but certainly not for Cartier or BMW.

I agree that a marketplace by its nature finds it’s own value, but in an industry weened on metrics and numbers, the ‘brand’ site will struggle to get the premium it needs…so those sites stick to selling themselves, face to face.