NEWS: Google’s DoubleClick Adds Mobile Networks

Google’s DoubleClick Adds Mobile Networks
Red Herring - CA,USA

DoubleClick on Wednesday said it is integrating its mobile ad delivery system, DoubleClick Mobile, with mobile ad networks AdMob, Millennial Media, and Google’s AdSense for mobile content.

The move, experts say, lends credibility, market reach, and added opportunities to the mobile ad market which has been beset by technical and credibility problems and painfully slow growth.

“Selling mobile ads direct is still pretty difficult so there are a lot of publishers that would like to sell their inventory indirectly through networks like Millennial Media and this may be the thing that tips the scale for them,” said John du Pre Gauntt, senior analyst with eMarketer.

DoubleClick, which was acquired by Google, gained its credibility as one of three primary ad servers in the online ad market and it brings a known quantity to a fragmented mobile ad market, he said.

“At a recent show there were 77 exhibitors talking about mobile ads. That’s too scattered for all but the largest publishers,” Mr. Gauntt said.  

With DoubleClick’s integrated technology, publishers will gain more flexibility in selling ad space.

“The big problem for publishers is they either sell all direct or all indirect through a network such as Millennial Media,” said Ari Paparo, group product manager for DoubleClick products. “DoubleClick now gives them the option of selling a third of their impressions on one network, a third on another, and a third direct if they choose.”

Until now the mobile ad market did not have a credible integrated ad serving technology on the level of DoubleClick’s online engine, according to Eric Eller, Millennial Media’s senior vice president products and marketing.

The online ad servers made do with home-grown, mobile-specific technologies or technologies borrowed from lesser-known companies.

“But mobile-specific solutions did not tie in to what DoubleClick was doing online and they did not help publishers who have both online and mobile properties,” he said.

The integrated DoubleClick solution announced today links the publishers’ online and mobile strategies and it opens the market up to multiple mobile ad networks, Mr. Eller said.

DoubleClick plans to open its mobile ad serving technology to other ad networks such as Ad Infuse.

“Each one of these companies is competing on a different basis and our product is designed to help publishers maximize revenue so we are open to everyone,” Mr. Paparo said.

Ed: Exchange among many resellers, but not a marketplace.