The already-happening yet next evolution of online marketing will be based on a hybrid CPA metric that backs out to a mutually acceptable CPC rate for both publisher and advertiser.

This is beginning to happen on the social platforms and will only escalate in 2007 as CPC and search continue to move farther apart from one another in performance numbers.

Metrics will be the talk of 2007.  Google, Yahoo, Omniture, Mercent, Doubleclick, ValueClick and Network Solutions (among others) are going to force a re-examination of the traditional velvet ropes separating CPA, CPC and even CPM.

(That’s a “liger” in the picture, by the way…hybrid…get it?)