Well, where do we start!
Perhaps a brief and somewhat tongue in cheek potted history of the online marketplace in New Zealand...

In the early days, we'd deal direct with the site owners. Negotiate rates as no-one really had a set ratecard in place. Bearing in mind too, that the site owners had no independent audience data, and some of the visitor figures they touted around were rather loose to say the least!

Then when things started to take off, but before most agencies had a dedicated inhouse digital media division, the Internet Bureau came along and offered to plan and place on behalf of accredited agencies and clients. This service was well used by the industry, as online budgets were almost an afterthought, and the time involved in contacting a variety of sites and sorting out the wheat out from the chaff was immense at the time. The Internet Bureau made it easy for us all.

Later though, as the snowball started rolling even more quickly, and the media sellers got a lot more savvy with their product, a number of the larger site owners pulled their sites away from the Internet Bureau - mainly we believe, due to costs. They were paying commissions to both the Bureau and the agency involved. Now that their sites were stronger, they believed they could sell directly to the media buyer at a greater yield back to themselves.

Then other buying groups joined the fray, acting in the same way as the Internet Bureau - planning and placing on behalf of, but the difference being these others had a select and specific group of sites for whom they acted.

So now the wheel has almost gone full circle - if you want to buy online advertising, you can either work directly with the "big" boys, or still work through people like the Internet Bureau to do it for you.

Us? - we do it both ways - as you need to do.

And talking of going full circle - a somewhat amusing note to finish on...
One of the key benefits of online advertising has always been its ability to target directly to very specific audiences. But recently, the Internet Bureau (them again!) introduced the Adconian Network. Which uses a "scattergun" approach instead of a targeted "rifle" approach. Placing your message on a wide variety of sites, not necessarily those that your target would view, in order to build up maximum impressions. Doesn't seem right - until you realise that the cost oer (000) impressions can be down to one tenth of the more normal approach!