Is there any point to making FREE ad banners

Mmmmm..

Just read a thread about making free games .... and the one about what should one charge for making < ..... whatever ..... > in this thread. Does anyone have any thoughts on developing an application that allows people to create ad banners and then giving them away for free ..... or at most, a very very small annual subscription charge. Surely there must be a viable business model which would allow for a virtually free service to customers - relying instead on the size of the potential user-base. There are thousands upon thousands of small to medium sized businesses for example who may well be enticed into web advertising if the costs imposed by those who make ad banners at the moment (who mainly charge for their design skills I'm guessing) were lower .....

And another thing ... I've read a lot about the future of internet advertising - most of which involves making use of Flash - adding things like one stop shopping inside the banner, video clips and talking adverts ........ surely all this is missing the point ....... I thought the future of internet advertising was to do with i n t e r a c t i v i t y .........

Just a thought ... or two .....