Google launches hosted ad management service
Google launched a free hosted service on Thursday that helps Web site publishers
sell advertising faster and fill unsold slots on their sites.
Ad Manager, which Google said has already been tested by a few businesses,
is designed to streamline how ads are placed on Web sites and generate performance
reports detailing how successful those ads are in reaching consumers, including
click through-rates and revenue paid by the advertisers for those clicks.
Google said Ad Manager's purpose is to ease some of the problems that come
with managing advertisements on a Web site, such as gauging available inventory
and how to pick the highest-paying ads. The service is hosted on Google's servers,
and Web site publishers can access it through a Web browser.
As of Thursday, Ad Manager entered a beta testing phase, and other publishers
may apply
to participate. Google makes technology such as Ad Manager available for
free to enlarge the circle of publishers that use its advertising technology,
bringing it revenue through fees.
Other online advertising specialist companies charge for similar placement
and management services, including DoubleClick, which Google bought for $3.1
billion [b] in April 2007. European regulators approved the acquisition earlier
this week.
Ad Manager is flexible enough to let publishers sell their own advertising,
Google said. For ad space they can't sell, publishers can opt to use Google's
AdSense system to fill unsold slots.
Google's AdSense delivers text advertisements that are matched with the content
of a Web site. Google will let publishers use Ad Manager in tandem with similar
technology from other competing ad placement networks.
Ad Manager can also target ads at specific users. It is capable of delivering
ads based on a user's domain, the brand of Web browser and language it uses,
the PC's operating system and how much bandwidth is available on their Internet
connection.
That information may seen potentially sensitive, but it's automatically revealed
when a browser visits a Web site. Increased attention has come around how Internet
advertisers target ads to users and how they handle personal information.
IDG News Service
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