An InsightExpress survey commissioned by ValueClick Media/Fastclick (NASDAQ: VCLK) had an interesting statistic in it. The respondents were comprised of 300 online media buyers.

A significant number of respondents (40 percent) cited reach as their primary reason for using an ad network, followed by targeting (19 percent), and performance/ROI (15 percent).

note: Reach is the number of people you touch with your marketing message. Central calculation in a television ad buy is to determine how each media providers contributes to the reach and frequency goals of a media plan.

The party line amongst the Internet savvy intelligencia is that online advertising is all about ROI and that television advertising is a slowly dying medium because it is unaccountable. Another common refrain is that advertisers want 'targeting' and that is another reason why online grows faster than television.

So what does it tell us that even online buyers using ad networks also value reach more than targeting and ROI combined? Maybe, just maybe, this is a hint that when VOD, DVR, and Broadband TV are eventually monetized with advertising, reach will remain the most important objective.

Food for thought, anyways. I'd love to hear your opinion.