Now that Yahoo has countered Google's acquisition of DoubleClick by purchasing display advertising company Right Media, where do the competitors go next to expand? In two words, video advertising.
While DoubleClick has rich media advertising capabilities, snapping up one of the specialty video ad companies is the next logical step. With most many analysts expecting video advertising to explode within the next 18 months, buying rather than building a video ad network makes sense.
Up for groups could be AMPP Media, which is already a DoubleClick partner, and perhaps VideoEgg, which has partnerships with 70 social networking and community sites.
Google needs to monetize YouTube with streaming ads sooner rather than later, and it may go outside for help.
Then there's Joost, which will bring ad-supported video to a mass audience, but the company hasn't announced whether they are building their own video ad network or will work with an existing company. They may also be in acquisition mode soon.
