Something helpful to remember is the shift from broadcast to cable TV as a true innovation in advertising. Where the former meant huge audiences (this year's Superbowl still trailed the 100 million that watched the final episode of MASH in 1983), it also meant significantly fewer targeted ads, except for some time periods (detergents begat soap operas) and events (beer begat Bud Bowl). Cable allowed channels to become really geared to demographics and thus ads. It's an example where the long tail of content is quite valuable. Take Scripps Networks (Food, HGTV, DIY) - that's quite a sizable chunk of what folks consume on a weekly basis.
To many, the internet advertising model takes the cable approach and amplifies the number of channels. The difference with Google is they understood how clicks were the next generation game changer (and well ahead of their time). Yahoo had always focused on aggregating content. They were following a shotgun path that had proven very valuable (cable TV) when clicks were finally used to create a sniper's rifle for aiming ads.
To many, the internet advertising model takes the cable approach and amplifies the number of channels. The difference with Google is they understood how clicks were the next generation game changer (and well ahead of their time). Yahoo had always focused on aggregating content. They were following a shotgun path that had proven very valuable (cable TV) when clicks were finally used to create a sniper's rifle for aiming ads.