After my post the other day about the continued decline of traditional media adevertising and the rise and rise of online media comes the news that Google is buying DoubleClick for £3.1b. (See also BBC online report)

Microsoft, Google and others have been looking at DoubleClick since they announced they were 'looking at their options'. The current private equity owners of DoubleClick had put a price tag of £2b+ so Google has paid a hefty premium but in return they get an end-to-end solution for online advertising.

Google through its search engine and YouTube social media site have a massive 'audience' that they can deliver contextual advertising to. Narrowcasting or permission based marketing is what is at the heart of the decline of traditional advertising. Broadcasters and traditional print media are seeing audiences decline in the face of other forms of delivery anyway (satelite, cable and internet) but in addition 'interrupt' marketing is having less and less impact. The future growth opportunity is in highly targeted and relevant advertising and marketing. If you are in a position to understand the content being delivered (as Google does) you can provide a great service to advertisers. With DoubleClick this becomes even better.

That's what the premium is worth!