The future of ad-supported traditional branded sites is looking uncertain, a Marketing Week article suggests.

The threats imposed by ad networks, exchanges and demand-side buying platforms is worrying Web publishers as sites are feared to be turning into commodities.

Tolman Geffs, co-president of the independent investment banking provider Jordan Edmiston Group, pointed out that brand advertising might be in trouble.

Geffs, who spoke at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s annual meeting, referred to statistics that show more money being spent on direct marketing and promotions than in branding in 2009.

This means advertisers are buying audiences rather than ads.

Geffs said: “Tons of players [are] getting into the audience-selling market. Premium publishers are losing a key advantage.”

What’s also concerning web publishers is the small margins they are getting from online ad revenues. As the scene is getting more crowded and complex – with ad serving companies, exchange suppliers, data suppliers and such involved – what the publisher gets out of the revenue might be as little as one fifth.

But that’s something that web publishers might just have to deal with, David Moore, chairman and founder of the digital marketing agency 24/7 Real Media, suggests.

According to Moore, agency-led demand-side platforms are here to stay and publishers must accept that fact.

International Advertising Bureau executives have also encouraged publishers to stand up for themselves in the midst of the change.

Jim Spanfeller, president and CEO of the online publishing consulting company The Spanfeller Group, said that publishers need to respect themselves more as well as the opportunities they present to marketers.

Source: Media Week