Double Take On DoubleClick: Enter OpenX

Ever since Google bought doubleclick, I've been wondering how long it would be until they pushed out the third party intermediators like adbrite, and valueclick. Afterall, doubleclick has the ability to do it all and why they haven't yielded that power up to now is likely only because of the privacy concerns surrounding the merger.

But now the story gets way more interesting. Enter OpenX. OpenX is ad serving publishing technology that puts the control "back in the hands of publishers." It's basically free ad serving technology that connects advertisers and publishers. Jeff Jarvis thinks that this could be the beginning of a system that could finally compete with Google in a substantive way.

Apparently the larger networks are supporting OpenX - and given the power of Google and doubleclick that's probably a wise move. Dependency doesn't make for good business strategy. As OpenX builds out its capabilities it will definitely be one to watch. And if I were the likes of Microsoft and/or Yahoo, I might be watching a little bit more than closely.