Has the heyday of the Text-Ad, been had?

Google has a lot "going on," to say the least, but could it obscure something else going on in their business?

With Google throwing $3.1B @ privately held internet ad concern, DoubleClick, you have to ask... just what is the target growth rate of the Google Ad Network? (or what was it beforehand, for that matter)?

Was this acquisition offensive, defensive, or purely opportunistic? It's worth noting that their stake of the TOTAL online ad market will be approx 85% if this deal goes through!! (in a bittersweet twist of irony, Microsoft and AT&T are already lining up against it citing anti-trust reasons)

(**anecdotally Gooliath is worried about paid links and pay per post...to uphold the integrity of the index of course, but cutting out the only forms of competition that their algo's cant detect is a nice byproduct.**)

As if that wasn't enough, today they *also* announced a partnership with Clear Channel radio to deliver 30 second radio ads on 675 stations nationwide (!) Both of these developments come on the heels of the Dish Network TV Deal announced a few days ago, whereby Google is going to deploy the first automated system for buying, selling, delivering and measuring TV ads to 125 million subscribers (!)

With all this hype and freneticism, it's easy to forget about the foundation of the house - those humble little text ads that everyone increasingly just ignores (or has ad blocked). What about those? How's that business doing? Is there any beer left at that party? Its worth asking because these other endeavors make great headlines, but are yet unproven ventures. The actual revenue sharing details are typically murky, but it is known that most of it is going to the stations and not to Google.

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