All Your Ads Are Belong to Us: Google’s Double Click Buy Approved and Ad Manager Launching

Google is still looking out for their #1 money-maker. Tuesday, the European Union approved Google's $3.1 billion (USD) purchase of DoubleClick, the online ad tracker. And today, they are expected to announce the launch of Ad Manager, a free service allowing web site owners to manage their own ad sales.

Ad Manager, which has been in a closed testing mode on a limited number of web sites, allows site owners to sell their own ads and use the service to serve them, with Google hoping that any open ad space can be filled with their ads. Google will provide Ad Manager services for free (unlike the DoubleClick model, which charges site owners for the service), and take a commission from any ads that Google sells and places. However, they don't plan on making it a requirement that site owners run the AdSense ads.

Google is, of course, trying to gain the lion's share of web advertising. And while they say that they have no immediate plans to make DoubleClick services free, why would you pay $3.1 billion for a company while building your own version of the service you just paid for, charging for one, and giving the other away? Will the ads they end up serving really net enough revenue to justify giving the service away?

It's an interesting announcement, to be sure, and dovetails neatly with Valleywag's post from disgruntled ex-Googler Hans Cardinal, who feels that the current code and staff involved with Google's ad business are subpar. And Google's stock is 40% off its high, so they need to do something to inspire more shareholder confidence. Giving away ad services in an economy where spending appears on the downward slide might not be the best way to go about doing that.