DoubleClick to kill Right Media

The New York Times reported this morning that DoubleClick plans to launch an exchange for online advertisements. The system is described as follows:

"DoubleClick, based in New York, views the exchange as the centerpiece of a growth plan and may derive the majority of revenue from the new service within five years, said David Rosenblatt, the company’s chief executive, said in an interview yesterday. “We already have the largest sellers and the largest buyers,” he said. “This will link them for the first time.”

He described the exchange as a mix of eBay and Sabre, the airline reservations system that travel agents use. The service will let advertisers see information about what competitors bid for particular ads, in the same way that eBay shows visitors past bids. And it will let publishers try to ensure that they sell their ad spots at the highest possible price, the way that airlines try to do with the seats they sell."

The most important player in the advertising exchange space is known to be the New York based Right Media. In October of 2006, they closed a $45 million round that was lead by Yahoo. Especially interesting in the context of today's announcement was the following quote:

"Right Media helps match display advertisers with Web-site publishers, and it hopes to do for display ads what Google has done for search ads. It's an idea Walrath [Right Media's CEO] began exploring while working as director of direct marketing and senior vice-president of strategy and development at DoubleClick, the maker of online-advertising and media-management tools."

So the question here is how DoubleClick's plans relate to and affect the RightMedia's core business?

Only the time will tell...