A survey of the climate

Efforts by online content publishers to build and maintain proprietary ad networks are proving harder than anticipated, reports The Associated Press.

Media companies like Technorati and VideoEgg are announcing specialty ad networks. The trend has driven longtime ad firm DoubleClick to debut an ad network builder for other publishers hoping to play the game.

Enlisting bloggers to that cover topics pertinent to companies is also a common technique for beefing up online content offerings. For select "quality content" bloggers, joining a well-known network or brand is a high-traffic opportunity.

Bringing oft-updated blogs into the family gives publishers more real estate to sell to advertisers. But even Forbes, which started a network of hundreds of financial blogs, says that inventory will only result in 10 to 15 percent more business.

An unexpectedly low return on the panoply of blog buys and online expansions is anathema to publishers and newbie ad networks, which hope to funnel more online ad dollars to themselves. Most still go to portals like Google or Yahoo.

Some publishers have also found their higher ad prices are too expensive in the midst of cheaper options. So many look to boost traffic to affiliated blogs in an effort to justify the costs of dormant ad space.

And as publishers grow more competitive in the online advertising arena, pressure to join portal networks to augment ad dollars increases. But most are wary of putting their fate in bigger hands and insist instead on forging their own way, either individually or in smaller coalitions — as in the case of quadrantOne.