By Bob Walczak

There is a fundamental shift taking place behind the scenes in mobile advertising. No, I am not talking about the debut of Apple?s iAd or Google?s entrance into the arena via its purchase of AdMob.

This shift is being undertaken by digital media buyers that are now more focused on targeting users instead of channels ? and it is a big deal.

For me, the real signal that mobile advertising is finally starting to be recognized by brands and agencies alike for the value it provides is that this initiative is digital and therefore cuts across online and mobile.

No longer is mobile viewed as an experiment or a one off. Mobile is finally being approached strategically as part of a digital experience and brands and customers alike will benefit from consistent messaging and creative.

Driving this trend is the recognition by brands and agencies that the advertising paradigm is in need of a tweak.

For years ad networks have confused media buyers and trampled on publishers? direct sales by sharing inventory through back-end horse trading.

This lack of clarity led to mobile being pigeon-holed into a medium for one-off experimental campaigns and not a strategic component of a digital campaign.

But all that is changing as publishers launch programs to integrate ad buys on their content across all channels. Just look at the recent campaign from Toyota.

This is a perfect example of how to correctly approach mobile. By maintaining the same brand message across all mediums Toyota created a consistent message.

At the same time, brands will continue to leverage the benefits of mobile?s unique role as an access point to personalize the creative and call to action via rich media, location-aware offerings and click to call.

Sure, recent acquisitions and major players entering the market have changed the mobile advertising landscape, but it is this shift by media buyers that signifies mobile?s emergence onto the main stage.

The industry is no longer broken down into mobile and online ? it is merely digital media with different access points offering a variety of unique experiences for a brand to connect with a consumer. And the mobile advertising market and the brands leveraging it are much better for it.

Bob Walczak is CEO of Ringleader Digital, New York. Reach him at .