eBay this

A group of marketers led by Julie Roehm, senior VP-marketing communications at Wal-Mart, today put out the call for advertisers to contribute $50 million for a test of an online auction system to buy and sell TV advertising.

The Big Idea
The proposal is a more contained version of a big idea that Ms. Roehm has been pushing for nearly two years. In a June 2004 Viewpoint essay in Ad Age, Ms. Roehm -- then a marketing executive at DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group -- proposed replacing the TV upfront market with a Nasdaq-like online trading system for commercials.

How It Would Work
eBay presented an online trading platform that could be used. The "Media Marketplace" home page would allow an advertiser or agency to click on a desired network, age, gender and time; see the available inventory; see the time remaining in the auction; and then enter a bid. If successful, the buyer soon would get the message: "Congratulations! You are the Winning Bidder!" The system could work in two ways: A forward auction, where buyers bid for available inventory; a reverse auction, where media sellers responded to a buyer's request for proposals for, say, 20 gross rating points for men age 18-34.

Closing Thoughts
I think the proposed solution would only increase the competitive nature of media buying. With instanteous access to advertising pricing and bidding, the pressure for advertisers to be on top of their game only increases. Overall, a great way to replace the current model that is at least 40-years old.