When it comes to success on the Web, there’s nothing like simplicity.  Yet the list of successful companies (let’s start with Google’s front page triumph over Yahoo!) that have leveraged this into serious cash is a short one.  Today, I’m officially adding Turn.com to my list of companies to watch and I’m not alone.  Why? 

1) Scale: they’re focused on it.

2) Blends: their model leverages multiple existing/proven ad models (behavioral targeting, user profiling, etc.)

3) Choice: offering it to advertisers (cost-per-action, cost-per-click, impressions, etc.)

4) Automation: They’re “taking the decisions for placement off the advertiser’s task list” (source: Direct Magazine)

Oops… there’s that word again (scale), Valueclick (VCLK), Doubleclick and to a large degree even Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO) should sit up and listen.  Not to mention, choice.

According to my new hero CEO, Jim Barnett,

“These debates and discussions about contextual advertising versus categories, or demographics versus behavioral targeting—they’re really nonsensical.  The answer is that they all make sense. But they have to be blended together.

Successful ad networks of the future are going to apply very high-end technology to synthesize these targeted approaches, weight them for every single ad call, and then select the right ad for that particular user on that page at that time of day in that geography.”

But what are other analysts suggesting, asking?  Says Sam Harrelson of CostPerNews.com (in November ‘06),

“Continued automation of the space at the higher levels doesn’t bode well for the plethora of CPA networks paying for booths and parties at this year’s ad:tech NYC right now.  How will this affect CJ or Linkshare or Azoogle or AdDrive or VendareNetBlue in the near or long term future?”