Google tries to fill gap in online ad business


14 Mar 2008

Fresh from its acquisition of rival DoubleClick, search giant Google has revealed a beta version of a free, hosted-ad and inventory management tool for internet publishers with smaller sales teams.

Google Ad Manager effectively complements the DoubleClick Revenue Centre, which is focused on publishers with larger sales teams.

“We’re excited to add Google Ad Manager for publishers to our suite of products and we’re committed to the continued development and enhancement of DoubleClick’s offerings,” said Rhohit Dhawan, a senior product manager with Google.

Dhawan said the beta Google Ad Manager is aimed at filling an important gap in the online advertising management business.

While some publishers use Google AdSense to fill ad space, others employ a direct sales team to manage and sell their ad inventory and use DoubleClick Revenue Centre or partner with third-party ad networks to fill unsold space.

“It is a challenge for publishers to effectively manage their unavailable inventory and ensure all of their clients’ campaigns serve on time without a sophisticated ad-management and ad-serving solution.”

Dhawan said Google Ad Manager is a free tool that can help publishers sell, schedule, deliver and measure their directly-sold and network-based ad inventory.

“It offers an intuitive and simple user experience with Google speed and a tagging process so publishers can spend more time working with their advertisers and less time on their ad management solution.

“And by providing detailed inventory forecasts and tracking at a very granular level, Ad Manager helps publishers maximise their inventory sell-through rates,” said Dhawan.

Google Ad Manager is available to publishers by invitation only.

Existing DoubleClick customers will not be affected by the announcement.

By John Kennedy