Google Inside

A few days ago, Google announced that they will be offering a hosted ad manager.

Something to note specifically is this line in the features: Optional AdSense Integration: Use AdSense to fill unsold inventory or compete on price against other ad networks.. Of course Google wouldn’t offer this free service without a hidden agenda such as this.

Sure, it’s a simple task, but it simply adds to the potential inventory available to AdWords advertisers. I’m not saying the hidden agenda is wrong or bad, it’s just a hidden agenda.

Google has a large array of advertising options available to advertisers and publishers. Teamed with their acquisition of Urchin (dated back in March 2005), the possibilities are becoming endless.

Click here to visit the Ad Manager by Google.

Here’s the scoop directly from google.com about the ad manager,

• Inventory management
• Yield optimization
• Ad targeting
• Trafficking, ad delivery, and order booking
• Creatives and rich media management
• Reporting
• User interface
• Administration

Inventory management

• Inventory levels: Define inventory at granular levels for more efficient line item creation and trafficking. Use ad slots to generate Ad Manager tags for your pages, ad placements to group related ad slots, and ad products to bundle and sell inventory packages with the same cost and targeting criteria.
• Inventory availability tracking: Easily confirm whether ad impressions are available for specific dates, placements, and targeting criteria. Avoid overbooking and underselling.
• Simple ad tag generation and management: Copy and paste tags directly into your HTML. Avoid the need to re-tag your site when you change the way you sell your inventory. (Available upon request: iframe tags.)

Yield optimization

• Optional AdSense Integration: Use AdSense to fill unsold inventory or compete on price against other ad networks.

Ad targeting

• Built-in targeting options: Target ads to your site visitors’ geography, bandwidth, browser, browser language, operating system, and domain.
• Customizable targeting criteria: Target ad impressions by passing your own custom key-value pairs to Ad Manager.

Trafficking, ad delivery, and order booking

• Delivery options: Choose one of five delivery types (exclusive, priority, standard, remnant, or house) to determine, automatically, how ads may be delivered.
• Frequency capping: Set multiple levels of frequency capping, which limit the number of ads the same visitor sees over a minute, hour, day, week, month, or lifetime.
• Proven Google infrastructure: Enjoy fast, reliable ad delivery and load time.
• Support for various ad pricing models: Choose from cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM), cost-per-click (CPC), and cost-per-day (CPD).
• AdSense integration (optional):Consistently deliver the highest-paying ad by enabling AdSense.

Creatives and rich media management

• Rich media support: Use tags from a variety of rich media providers.
• Free ad creatives hosting: Save bandwidth and costs.
• Redirect creatives support: Easily track ads from a third-party network, affiliate provider, or other URL you provide.

Reporting

• Multiple reporting options: Run reports on order delivery, inventory performance, or overall sales.
• Detailed reporting: Break down reports by date, line item, placement, advertiser, and other categories.
• Fast report generation: Create reports in seconds.
• Interactive views: Sort data, add or remove columns, review different data subsets, and make other edits without having to leave the page or run a new report.
• Media Rating Council (MRC) accredited: Feel confident in Google Ad Manager’s ad impression measurement process, accredited by the Media Rating Council to be fully compliant with Interactive Advertising Bureau standards.

User interface

• Search functionality: Locate order, inventory, or advertiser data from any page in Ad Manager.
• Intuitive workflows: Quickly and easily create orders, approve orders, and review status of orders. Decrease training time and trafficking steps.
• AdSense channels integration: Import your existing AdSense channels into Ad Manager (optional).
• Browser session support: Use your browser’s ‘Back’ button and other built-in navigation without losing data.

Administration

• Access controls: Set various viewing and editing permissions for your team. Define individual workflows for sales managers, sales reps, administrators, and traffickers.
• Contacts organization: Store and manage advertiser and agency company information.