Part of the problem is time. Our industry is still young and needs to build a brand of value.

Another problem isn’t that offline is charging too much. Online is charging too little. This whole auction marketplace where the advertisers decide what a cost per click is worth is too efficient. It works too well for the advertisers.

Major, high traffic, phrases should have a base per click cost of, say, $20/click. Google could do that tomorrow because they own the market. Advertisers would have to pay it. And then the entire industry would move up a notch. That would become the standard.

Small businesses would be pushed out of that market. But they could still be given niche phrases that are placed in the no-base open bidding environment.
Sage Lewis´s last blog ..Getting Ready For My Paid Search Panel

Your post wasn’t boring, just not particularly accurate.

Advertisers certainly demand transparency and traditional media is thoroughly researched through not only industry wide monitoring but also through ongoing tracking studies that are proprietary to individual advertisers.

Moreover, there are some very good reasons why advertisers are willing to pay more for branded content than for user generated content. You can read about some of them here: http://www.digitaltonto.com/archives/67

-Greg

But if it is, it won’t last.

I know this, because I know lots of people who have come to the same realization you have. And I know what they say next.

What they say is: “Why should I spend so much money on traditional media, if I don’t know exactly what I’m getting, but I know I’m not getting much?”

I usually say “Good point!” (and not just because I sell online marketing services).

No matter what you’re advertising–whether it’s sandwiches, soap, or supersonic jets–the rules are the same: the more you tell, the more you sell. Old media don’t tell you much, but they sell a lot of ads because they have a lot of momentum. New media outlets can’t afford to behave that way, so they tell their advertisers everything they can, which is why they keep growing.

In the short run, Facebook is losing money. But they’ve raised over $700 million so they can keep on losing money until it makes sense to flip the sell-hard switch, crank up their advertising, and start practically minting money.
Byrne´s last blog ..The Typo Test: Do Typos Ruin Online Copy? I’m Going to Find Out

I think it is also essential to highlight the different philosophies underpining each model, the ‘one-size-fits-all’ of traditional advertising and the more closely- targeted, often ‘long-tail’ online model.

In any case, does this tell us anything about the need to upgrade the levels of quality, creativity and even the budgets in online advertising?
Oscar Del Santo´s last blog ..Tweetdeck y Seeismic: cuando Twitter se enamoró de Facebook