Comscore defends its report on Google paid clicks data
The release of Google’s First Quarter earnings indicated ComScore’s data regarding the search engine’s Paid Clicks was off the mark. Comscore was severely criticised for this.
The research firm though wants to show that their data was indeed accurate, and some other factors were at work, proving them to be wrong. ComScore is now trying to point to the fact that all the brouhaha had nothing to do with their findings, but it was owing to the analysts who made such an issue by coming to a conclusion using ComScore’s domestic statistics data in the context of Google’s First Quarter earnings.
There is a ComScore chart that compares the domestic revenue trends of Google with the domestic paid click trends marked by ComScore. The difference is only slight and points to a downward path - starting from Q4, 2007 up to Q1, 2008.
ComScore further contended Google’s partner sites and paid clicks from them were not included. Google’s partner sites include Ask, AOL and Washington Post (this apart from paid clicks from the Adsense network), so this probably establishes some parity and clarity.
Mobile image ads by Google
It works just like the Google image ads with the only difference being that the recently launched Google mobile ads can fit on to the small screen of one’s mobile phone.
It has been said, by the Google mobile ads team, that these new ads have a good CTR and moreover they could prove for advertisers to be a good branding tool. These mobile ads are displayed in a ‘one unit per one mobile page’ manner and hence they could benefit advertisers further.
This will also open up another avenue for Adsense publishers since they can now also display advertising on their mobile websites.
Google has cleared any doubts before they arise by saying that these image ads will not obstruct mobile web browsers’ browsing experience because it only gives out relevant ads and also the users can opt to click on only the ads that they find purposeful and can simply avoid the rest.
Google introduces image ads for mobile phones
Google, the search-engine giant, plans to further enhance its stature in the mobile advertising industry by introducing brand-image ads for mobile phones. The company is keen on extending beyond that brand image largely associated with the Internet.
The company is going to step into the mobile advertising industry by offering mobile images, which are similar to the standard graphical display ads for desktop computer web pages. However, these images are reduced in size to fit on mobile-phone screens. Additionally, all mobile image ads are targeted keeping in mind the keywords that users type into phones to search for various types of information. These ads are priced on a cost-per-click basis, and are linked to web pages specially optimised to work on mobile phones. Only one image ad is displayed on each mobile page, which makes the page appear less cluttered on small screens.
The marketing manager of Google, Alexander Kenin, stated mobile image ads serve as a branding tool for advertisers and are noted to have good click-through rates. These mobile image ads are available in 13 national markets, including the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Australia, France, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the US and the UK.
Lawsuit filed against Google adwords
A federal class action lawsuit has been filed against Google for its allegedly charging customers for ads that they do not want to access, view or subscribe. Users, in the process for signing up for Adwords, usually specify the maximum bid for the PPC advertising programme, the complainant pointed out. There are two options given by Google to the users as to where they want their ads served. There is a box, which displays ads on its properties, whereas another optional box can be used by them to bid for ads served on Google’s partner sites.
The problem seems that if the second box is left blank by the user, Google still continues to display the ads on third-party sites thereby charging customers, based on the amount specified in the first box, when they actually should not be charged. This situation formed the basis of the lawsuit since customers were charged for the ads they were not aware of.
Google is hurting its customers on two fronts. It is not only taking money out of customers’ pockets but also derailing their advertising strategies as well
Said Brian Kabateck, lead counsel on the case at the US district Court, Northern District of Carolina in San Jose. He further added:
Ads on third-party sites are widely-acknowledged to be far less effective (and therefore less valuable to the advertiser) than ads on Google.com. Google, of course, still profits (greatly) from these ads.
DoubleClick Mobile joins hands with mobile ad networks
DoubleClick Inc., a leading online display ad technology provider, is all set to join hands with leading mobile ad networks. The recently Google acquired firm DoubleClick is integrating its mobile advertising delivery system with AdMob, Google’s AdSense and Millennial Media’s MBrand and Decktrade to facilitate publishers (deal) with their ad inventory.
The group product manager of the DoubleClick products, Ari Paparo stated that if a publisher is getting traffic on his mobile pages in the mobile business, he or she has to choose between selling all his ads directly with his sales force or alternatively outsourcing all the ads to a network. According to him, this merger will help publishers to easily allocate inventory to whichever networks they want that will enable them to treat mobile like display ads on the Internet.
Mobile publishers will be able to fill more of their inventory on the channel and increase their revenue base. Additionally, DoubleClick Mobile will help them to accept ads from Millennial Media’s advertisers while allowing them sell directly as well. Plus, DoubleClick clients will now be able to join 4,000 existing AdMob publishers to sell mobile ad inventory. DoubleClick is positioned to publishers as a helping hand for managing inventory across the various direct and indirect channels.