Google As The Rebirth Of DoubleClick?

from the that-sounds-familiar... dept

Just a few weeks ago, we noted that problems in the paid search world would probably mean that the companies offering such advertising would eventually start to offer advertising that wasn't just "pay-per-click." We just didn't realize it would happen this fast. Google, who pretty much legitimized the pay-per-click text ad, introduced image ads last year, but they never received that much attention. However, now, Google is launching a program to let advertisers bid to place those ads on content partner sites on a CPM basis, which is the much more traditional advertising metric. That is, they're no longer guaranteeing relevancy based on the content of the page, but are giving the ad space (on content sites, not the search engine itself) to the highest bidder. In other words, the company that was so against image banner ads sold on the old CPM basis -- is now doing exactly that. It will let advertisers bid to advertise on specific sites. It's also recognizing the fact that click throughs aren't always the best determinant of ad value. Beyond the click fraud problem, it ignores the value of brand building in placing ads. People can see an ad and remember it later -- in which case Google (and the publisher) are leaving money on the table. Of course, another amusing thing about all of this is that Google is basically starting to position themselves in a similar place as DoubleClick in the late 90s -- on the same day that a struggling DoubleClick got bought out by a buyout firm.

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