They’ve been a boon to publishers and cross-network buyers since the online space became aligned with earning revenue. But what exactly makes an ad network so beneficial to its clients? Who are the top ad networks today, and who do they view as the competition?

While we at ADOTAS would normally be privy to answering these questions through our own analysis and hypotheses, we decided it would be best to let the networks speak for themselves. In our first-ever online advertising network survey, senior-level representatives from many of the top-ranked ad networks including the likes of Advertising.com, Valueclick Media/FastClick and Tribal Fusion, gave us the inside scoop on what makes them the best, what could make them better, and who they consider to be their rivals. Keep in mind, this survey is admittedly a forum for ad networks to talk about themselves and each other.

While all of the networks involved, not surprisingly, ran at the chance to tout their own growth, getting real answers about their competitors took a bit more convincing. A few that did offer criticism and praise regarding their competition more often than not pointed to Advertising.com as their largest and most praiseworthy opponent, while interestingly enough they could not offer answers to the same question.

As for what technologies and improvements these ad networks were interested in seeing rolled out, a majority pointed in the direction of further advancements in behavioral targeting optimization in addition to showing a strong interest in tapping into new mediums including wireless, user generated content and blogs.

We at ADOTAS are very interested in hearing our readers’ thoughts and comments on these ad networks’ responses and welcome further responses from those who did not initially show interest in being involved. We would also like to open the forum for suggestions on further surveys going forward and look forward to reading your thoughts.

TRUE, one of the top 5 properties in online dating services, will display IAB standard ad sizes including 728×90, 468×60 and 300×250 across the more popular sections of its site and e-newsletters, and will also target its ads according to user profiles by age, gender and geography.

TRUE’s SVP of Acquisition Marketing Cornell McGee, expressed his enthusiasm regarding his company’s decision to choose Oridian with this statement: “After an extensive search for the right partner, Oridian proved to be the only choice for ad sales representation, especially since TRUE expects each advertiser to receive the highest levels of service, knowledge and professionalism.”

Adware companies are now notorious for being plagued with accusations related to spyware. Advertisers and publishers alike have taken legal action over trespassing and trademark infringements, and consumers have been at near riot level with their frustration over unexpected ad intrusions. The noise has gotten so loud that the Congress has now jumped into the ring in the form of an upcoming Spyware Bill.

While all this drama sounds like impending doom to some, I believe that this kind of legal wrangling will bring much needed rules and regulations to the adware industry. Unfortunately, it will also present a whole new set of challenges to the industry, ones that are likely to truly test the real business acumen of the adware community as a whole.

One of the most evil words that can be spoken in the halls of adware companies is ATTRITION. This is the rate at which users, or spyware removal programs, uninstall a particular adware program from their computers. Most adware companies experience a high double-digit level of user attrition each month due to the aggressive work of spyware removal programs, Microsoft alerts, and consumer backlash. As a result, there is an insatiable hunger for new users to fill in the lost user gap.

If passed, the new Spyware Bill before Congress will put serious restrictions on adware companies regarding how a user can be created–and will affect, too, the ease with which they can be uninstalled. Today, the boundaries are only limited by the imagination, but if these new rules are put in place it will become extremely challenging for companies to create users and satisfy that insatiable appetite for them, at a satisfactory cost.

Obviously, consumers are willing to accept adware if there is a real value provided in return. Many companies are attempting to provide this user value by offering free software and other incentives—in fact, a select few have really focused on the consumer and worked hard to be the good guys (Hotbar stands out in my mind as one of these). And yet these companies have had to suffer an unfair blackeye as a result of this whole drama. Meanwhile, other companies have made nearly no effort to improve their client relations; to date, their efforts have been limited by lack of necessity (that is, no one’s been standing over their shoulder, forcing them to do it). But as the rules evolve so will their level of urgency to change.

The adware companies are about to engage in the fight for their lives as they are forced search for inventive ways to benefit consumers in return for the installation of adware. This could be a great thing for consumers, even reminiscent of the 1999 “Everything FREE” period. (Though, based on Claria’s defined lifetime user value, there’s not a whole lot of value to offer each consumer for the effort.)

Still, it will be interesting to watch who will bring the most interesting products and services to the table, and how they will convince consumers to install, retain and enjoy their product long enough to allow their company to grow. The fight is on, and if the adware industry can’t crack the consumer value code sooner rather than later, you can bet that all these companies will attrition themselves into irrelevance in the blink of an eye.

But as it becomes clear that search doesn’t really scale very large, more and more search advertisers who have only cut their teeth on search marketing have begun to seek out traffic from ad networks like 24/7 Real Media, Advertising.com and Cydoor Desktop Media. Happy as these ad networks are to have the business, this trend is also opening up a whole can of misguided expectations that need to be set straight.

As I’ve discussed in past articles, the easy admin. interfaces and instant credit card buying now available for search advertising simplify matters greatly for buyers, allowing advertisers to make decisions and adjustments on the fly-easy stuff. But working with a traditional ad network remains more like visiting the bank teller or representative than it does the trusty ATM: you may get more interactive personal attention with the teller, but the process requires more time, patience and effort.

The first unrealistic expectation that carries over from search to network is the notion of being able to run a test and then attempting to cancel it after a $500 investment. While you may be able to buy a few keyword clicks for $500 and make some statistical decisions from there, this is very unlikely to happen on an ad network. Ad networks are like combination locks that require money, time and effort to find the spots that work. And you will definitely have to spend more money on an ad network to come to those conclusions. The upside to that, however, is that there’s likely to be a greater reward when you do invest.

The second unrealistic expectation that ad networks suffer from is the idea that campaigns can be turned on and off very quickly over a very short period of time, even a day. For an ad network to achieve any results, advertisers need to understand that this is essentially impossible. Ad networks apply optimization routines and account management of the various creatives, placements, and formats in order to set up a successful campaign. Rapid opening and closing simply doesn’t allow everyone to make their best efforts at overall optimization.

The last and most challenging expectation is targeting. While many ad networks offer many levels of targeting, it’s unlikely you will be able to achieve micro keyword level targeting. Most ad network targeting is categorical and contextual by nature. These categories and placements tend to be more high level than keywords, and also will deliver more volume.

Ad Networks are extremely powerful traffic generators, and when worked with closely and properly tested, they have the ability to scale bigger and be more successful than search. But they are also their own beast to tame, and it’s unfortunate that many search advertisers are applying the same expectations and methods to them-leaving behind a lot of unhappy buyers and missed opportunities in the marketplace. I hope that ad network advertising sales executives will make a more concerted effort to appropriately set expectations and help search advertisers make the most of ad networks. It is an effort from which the entire industry will stand to gain.