Increased competition in digital advertising doesn’t seem to be hurting Google: the company is on track to increase its market share to almost 33 percent this year, with a commanding 53% in mobile advertising. The projections were made by research company eMarketer based on an analysis of company reports, though both dollar and percentage figures are slightly down on its earlier predictions back in June … Expand Expanding Close
Google today announced on its blog that it’s introducing an “updated ad experience” for Google Maps on iPhone, iPad, and Android that will display a small banner at the bottom of the screen when a user performs a search. Google used to display smaller banner ads that would pop up as an overlay on the map after searching for a location, but the new experience brings ads into the new bottom bar that Google introduced in its recent redesign of the Google Maps mobile apps.
Relevant ads on the Google Maps app can now appear at the bottom of the screen after a user performs a search. They include a title, ad text, and a link to get directions. Users can tap or swipe upward to see more information — this is a new click type known as “Get location details” and results in a standard CPC charge.
Just like the previous ads, tapping or swiping up on the new ads placed at the bottom of the screen will pull up details about businesses including images, reviews, phone numbers and addresses. Google’s recent update to the Google Maps mobile apps also brought Zagat ratings and Google Offers into the local business search results displayed on the new bottom navigation bar.
Google provides more information for advertisers interested in display local ads in Maps in its blog post here.
Sometimes you want to know how much money you made on Google Adsense ads, but don’t have time to go look at your phone/tablet/computer. Fret not, Google Glass wearers. As SearchEngineLand points out, there is a Google Glass Adsense app that can be sideloaded onto Google Glass headgear to do just that. Developer Chad Smith announced the App, which is hosted at Github.
The Glass AdSense App will show you pageviews, clicks, click through rate and earnings for today, yesterday, last seven days, last thirty days, this month and last month. You can refresh the stats as often as you like and of course, you’d need to “pin” the card to your timeline so that you can access it.
The Federal Trade Commission has sent out a letter to 20 search engines informing them that they are not properly distinguishing the ads in search results from the actual results themselves. Back in 2002, the FTC doubled down on paid listings in search results, forcing search engines to clearly show a difference between the two, but the firm believes that since 2002, companies have fallen back into their old habits. “We have observed a decline in compliance with the letter’s guidance,” the agency said in the letter.
The FTC has now issued new guidelines for search result ads, saying that things such as borders, shading, and text labels must be different when compared to true search results. The agency pointed a finger at Facebook’s new Graph Search feature, saying that “Regardless of the precise form search may take in the future, the long-standing principle of making advertising distinguishable from natural results will remain applicable.” Expand Expanding Close
As we told you last week, Google’s ad business brings in a lot of money, and today, it will celebrate the ten year anniversary of one of its most successful platforms to date. In a post on the official Google blog, Susan Wojcicki, Google’s SVP of ads and commerce, announced that ten years ago today, the company launched AdSense to help publishers earn money by placing ads on their websites. Fast forward 10 years and AdSense is now used by more than 2 million publishers, who earned a combined total of more than $7 billion last year alone.
Happy birthday @AdSense! 10 years after launch, more than 2 million publishers earn money from AdSense http://t.co/IAVeeBvkxl
A few weeks ago, Google unveiled a new tabbed interface for Gmail that divides your inbox into several tabs, including primary, promotions, and updates. It looks like the company has some bigger plans for revenue with the third of those sections, however.
According to a new report from the Google System blog, the company is testing ads that resemble emails in the promotion tab. The ads look exactly like other emails in the inbox, but have a small ad logo below the sender’s name.
“It’s a new type of ad which you can forward to a friend, or star to save it to your inbox. If you dismiss this ad, you won’t see it again,” informs Google. You can click “dismiss” or use the “x” icon to remove an ad. If you want to see all the sponsored promotions for your account, go to this page.
Google is expected to generate $8.8 billion in revenue from mobile advertising this year (via CNET). The market for mobile ad sales is expected to reach $16 billion this year, giving Google a 56 percent share. The company sold $4.6 billion in mobile ads last year.
Facebook is expected to come in second with a 13 percent share, while Pandora will come in third with 2.5 percent of the market, and Twitter fourth with 1.95 percent.
“Across all digital platforms, Google continues to reign as not only the largest beneficiary of digital ad spending in the U.S., but worldwide as well,” eMarketer said in a statement.
Google Web Designer will empower creative professionals to create cutting-edge advertising as well as engaging web content like sites and applications – for free.
In its announcement, Google notes that “90% of multiple device owners switch between screens to complete tasks,” emphasizing the importance of HTML5 based content to reach users on mobile devices. Expand Expanding Close
Google announced updates to its AdMob ad network, which it acquired in 2010, including improved app promotion, strong filters for ad relevance, local payments eliminating currency conversions, and more.
Developers will see the changes roll out over the next few months according to Google.
Microsoft’s latest smear campaign against Google services kicked into full gear earlier this month with the launch of several online video and print ads as part of its “Scroogled” campaign. Privacy is at the heart of the issues with Gmail depicted in the commercials, with the majority highlighting how Google scans the bodies of emails to serve up relevant ads in Gmail. According to a report from Datamation, Google executives commented on the claims during a panel discussion yesterday with heads from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla at the RSA Security conference.
Challenging Microsoft’s claims, Google’s Senior Privacy Counsel Keith Enright said the following:
Microsoft alleges that Google’s contextual ads, which show up alongside user email, is a violation of user privacy. Google does not agree. Enright noted that the use of automated algorithms is commonplace across multiple facets of technology and is not an issue of privacy. He added that automated algorithms are used to make the contextual ads more relevant. “The idea that doing that (contextual advertising) is in any way detrimental to privacy, or is antithetical to the interests of our users, I think is misleading and intellectually dishonest,” Enright said.
Samsung already confirmed that Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd would be teaming up to star in a two-minute long Super Bowl ad for the company, and today we get a taste of what to expect with a short video showing the two actors pitching ideas for the upcoming ad. The full Super Bowl ad, titled “The Big Pitch,” apparently “shows Rogen and Rudd on a quest to become the Next Big Thing” and was directed by Jon Favreau. Expand Expanding Close
Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, lambasted Google today and alerted consumers of Mountain View’s pay-to-rank system for shopping results. Here’s an excerpt from the “Don’t Get Scroogled: Bing Launches Campaign for Honest Search to Help Shoppers this Holiday Season” blog post on Bing’s community website:
“Specifically, we want to alert you to what Google has done with their shopping site right in time for Christmas. Instead of showing you the most relevant shopping search results for the latest coffee maker you’re looking to buy mom, Google Shopping now decides what to show you – and how prominently to display what product offers they show — based partially on how much the merchant selling the product has paid them. Merchants can literally pay to improve their chances to display their product offers higher than others inside of Google’s shopping “search,” even if it’s not better or cheaper for the consumer. The result of this new “pay-to-rank” system is that it’s easy for consumers to mistake an ad for an honest search. That’s not right, it’s misleading. It’s not what you expect from search, and it’s not how we at Bing think search engines should help consumers get the best prices and selection when shopping.”
The Redmond, Wash.-based search engine basically said shoppers who use Google for their shopping searches are “getting ‘Scroogled’ when they should be getting fair, honest, open search.” Bing then compared Google Shopping to Ebenezer Scrooge and noted, “We think consumers should be aware what they’re seeing when they’re shopping online and to understand, without any hidden text or traps, the fine print of what their ‘search engine’ actually searches.”
Google announced today on its Inside AdWords blog that it will now allow AdWords users to track iOS downloads from in-app display ads, a feature that was previously only available for Android app downloads. Google said iOS conversion tracking allows advertisers to “better understand which campaigns are most effective at driving app downloads.”
The feature allows marketers to track downloads that originate from “in-app” display ads, meaning the iOS conversion tracking feature at this point doesn’t include app downloads driven by Google Search or Google Display Network ads. For iOS app downloads, Google explained marketers will have to go through a couple extra steps, requiring them install an SDK, grab a code snippet from their AdWords account, and then install it into their app. The same feature is currently available to Android as a codeless solution requiring users to simply create a new conversion in their account.
Tracking downloads of an iOS app requires integrating a small SDK into your app and pasting a small snippet of code in your app’s didFinishLaunchingWithOptions method to call the SDK.
Full instructions from Google on setting up iOS conversion tracking are below: Expand Expanding Close
DoubleClick for Advertisers introduced a new tool today for agencies and marketers, called “DoubleClick Verification,” that acts as a built-in ad verification solution and subsequently promotes smarter media buying.
DoubleClick is a Google subsidiary that develops and provides Internet ad serving services. According to the official DoubleClick Advertiser blog, the new tool’s benefits include:
Accessible. It’s as simple as signing in to DFA and navigating to the reporting interface to start using DoubleClick Verification. There’s no need to implement another tag or sign another contract to get started.
Holistic. DoubleClick Verification not only provides a seamless experience for clients, it’s enabled across all ad impressions and campaigns in DFA today. In the future, as part of DoubleClick Digital Marketing, it will cover the entire scope of your display buy across the platform.
Actionable. The information in DoubleClick Verification helps you to reconcile the terms of your media buy with your media partners. It answers the questions of did my ads serve as they were intended?
DoubleClick Verification currently offers website content monitoring for identifying content issues with ads and it allows partners to customize content profiles for defining safe or non-safe websites.
For more information on today’s news: Download DoubleClick’s “Smarter Media Buying with Ad Verification” white paper, visit DoubleClick’s blog post, watch the video above, or register for an upcoming “Introducing Ad Verification with DoubleClick” webinar on Oct. 17 at 1 p.m. EST.
We told you Google had a number of presentations prepared for Advertising Week and one of them included the introduction of a new ad format that Google is calling “Lightbox.” Google explained the new ads (pictured above) start “as a standard display ad, making it scalable, but after a two-second hover, expands to a super-sized canvas.”
According to Google’s Jim Lecinskihe, the benefits of the Lightbox ad format include: elimination of almost all accidental expansions, an increase in engagement by up to 6-8x, and advertisers only pay when a user is engaged. Expand Expanding Close
A study found that Google’s latest Nexus 7 ad, which aired during the Olympics is the most effective in the last 90 days. The ad, seen below, depicts a father and his son using a Nexus 7 while camping, as they take advantage of its compass, gaming, and reading capabilities. The survey, conducted by ad research firm Ace Metrix, asked a total of 500 consumers if they would watch the ad again and how persuasive it seemed. Out of a 950-point chart, Google’s “Camping” advertisement scored 662 points.
In contrast, another ad has created a ton of buzz lately. Apple’s latest trio of Genius ads (also aired during the Olympics), depicts a young, eager, Apple Genius helping customers with their latest Mac purchases. The ads take place on an airplane, the street, and in his apartment. The ads garnered a mix reception. The “Street” ad scored on the bottom of the rankings, while the “Plane” advertisement scored on the upper-middle rankings, the analyst told AdAge.
We will allow you to decide which you like better by viewing the ads below. Of course, they are different products in different categories, but you can judge by the overall feel. Let us know in the poll below: [AdAge]
According to a recent report fromThe Wall Street Journal, Google is preparing to launch a new ad service and tools aimed at small businesses as soon as July. Noting that the new service was once called “Business Builder” internally, the report claimed it will consist of various products that have been developed by Google and technologies/services acquired through the purchases of over six companies at a cost of roughly half a billion dollars since last year. The source claimed Google is hoping the new service will bring in billions in new revenue each year.
A few of the acquisitions mentioned in the report include in-store loyalty program Punchd and SMS customer interaction serviceTalkBin. The service would also include aspects of AdWords Express, Google Offers, Google Wallet, and several new products.
Google began testing a new “Trusted Stores” badge on its Adwords platform to compliment its Trusted Stores program. Search Engine Land discovered the feature this afternoon. For those unfamiliar, Adwords is Google’s ad platform that displays ads on Google’s Search product while driving a ton of revenue to the Mountain View, Calif.-based company. Google launched Trusted Stores last year as a way for customers to feel a little more comfortable when buying products online. The new badge that appears in Adwords will help users to understand which companies Google has approved as a reliable source.
Google announced it is introducing a new initiative today to reinvent online measurement for brand marketers.
“Today at the Ad Age Digital Conference we’re introducing the Brand Activate initiative, a new effort to re-imagine online measurement for brand marketers and—crucially—to help brands turn measurement into action, immediately,” explained Google’s Vice President of Display Advertising Neal Mohan on the Official Google Blog. “We’re working with the industry and supporting the IAB’s Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) coalition on this project.”
The conference intends to “connect the dots” between Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley, while highlighting 700 high-level attendees, two days of keynotes, workshops, and networking with celebrated guest speakers.
In February, the story broke that Google and other advertising companies were bypassing iOS Safari’s privacy settings and continuing to track users without their consent. Google quickly disabled its code responsible for the tracking after a story from The Wall Street Journal published, and Apple then claimed it was “working to put a stop” to the issue.
Now, a new report fromMercury News claimed the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is considering whether to fine Google over the incident. The decision is expected in the next 30 days:
The Federal Trade Commission is deep into an investigation of Google’s actions in bypassing the default privacy settings of Apple’s (AAPL) Safari browser for Google users, according to sources familiar with ongoing negotiations between the company and the government… Within the next 30 days, the FTC could order the Mountain View search giant to pay an even larger fine in the Safari case than the penalty the Federal Communications Commission hit Google with Friday, say the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The report is referring to Google being recently fined $25,000 by the FCC after it allegedly “deliberately impeded and delayed” an investigation related to Street View cars. The heart of the Safari bypassing investigation is whether the company is violating a previous privacy agreement made with the FTC following controversy over the failed “Buzz” service. The report claimed Google could face up to $16,000 per violation per day for violating the agreement. Google said to Mercury News today it would “cooperate with any officials who have questions” and explained making its +1 compatible on mobile Safari created the issue:
Leaked slides from a confidential deck show Google+ may soon feature Google Analytics integration.
Dutch website Dutchcowboys found the entire deck with screens showcasing the combined services. According to the slides, users will soon have access to total number of visits with percentage of new visits, page views, average time spent on the site, and the bounce rate for their Google+ pages.
Google+ is a social network operated by Google Inc., and Google Analytics is a free service that generates detailed statistics about the visitors to a website. There is currently no way to measure or view Google+ activity other than self-analyzing +1 social engagement.
Google’s dominance in mobile advertising and Apple’s growing iAd platform on iOS convinced Samsung to launch its own rival advertising platform called “Samsung AdHub Market.” The Wall Street Journalreported the company officially announced the platform on Tuesday, which uses technology from OpenX Technologies Inc. According to the report, the company will allow advertisers to buy space within apps through developers and Samsung. The ads are expected to appear on Samsung phones and tablets sometime in last half of the year.
Samsung said Tuesday it’s adding a mobile phone advertising exchange platform using technology from closely held U.S. firm OpenX Technologies Inc…The platform, called Samsung AdHub Market, will enable advertisers to place targeted messages within apps on Samsung phones and tablets… The move is part of Samsung’s broader push to bring targeted advertising to electronic devices including Internet-connected televisions. It will also pit the company against other mobile-ad services from Apple, Google and Millennial Media Inc., which held an initial public offering last week.
Google today revealed that it purchased mobile payments company TxVia for an undisclosed sum of money.
we’ve acquired payments technology company TxVia to complement our payments capabilities and accelerate innovation towards our full Google Wallet vision. TxVia is a technology pioneer that offers a fast, flexible and highly reliable payments platform—which we believe is one of the best in the world.
Since 2008, TxVia has supported the management of more than 100 million accounts. They’ve partnered with the industry’s best known brands, and their leadership team has played an instrumental role in defining the fast-growing prepaid card segment of emerging payments. In this time, TxVia has also certified and directly connected to the major payment networks, which establishes a solid foundation for Google Wallet and our partners to drive innovation on a global scale and in a partner friendly way.
Google Wallet has been somewhat slow in adoption due in no small part to the competing Verizon-AT&T-T-Mobile ISIS consortium. Google’s Payments team has also undergone some strife…
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