Google to Open AdSense to Other Networks

Google plans to open its AdSense network to other ad networks, potentially giving the already huge ad net access to display ads flowing through countless other networks. The firm yesterday said it will allow networks to bid via auction to have their ads appear on AdSense partner sites, like an exchange.

Google is vetting several ad networks for certification, but would not name any of the networks. If accepted into the program, the networks would receive payment if their ads win the auction to appear on AdSense sites. The firm said networks will be able to target contextually or by placement.

The company suggested the offering will help boost publisher revenues by increasing competition for ad placements.

“Generally, the goal is to increase AdSense publisher revenues by expanding the pool of quality display advertisers,” a Google spokesperson told ClickZ News. The company aims to certify networks “in the coming months.”

“At this time, we’re focusing on our partners and vendors that have been specifically requested by our publishers,” stated the firm on its AdSense site. Publishers can opt out of the system if they choose.

Certified network ads will go head-to-head with Google’s own AdWords ads, and those that generate the highest bids for each placement will be served. While Google said that the third-party networks and advertisers will not have access to participating AdSense publisher data for retargeting purposes, the firm did note that publishers will “gain the revenue benefit of the network or advertiser’s audience data without having to offer them [their] own site data for subsequent targeting.”

When Google finally opened AdSense to tags from third parties last May, some suggested the move would benefit Google from a data standpoint. Although the company does not store the data associated with third-party ad tags and probably won’t store the data associated with networks bidding in its system, opening AdSense to other networks could help them provide more comprehensive data in aggregate to advertisers.

“I think from Google’s perspective, it’s really going to be about the data they can glean,” Jupiter Research Senior Analyst Emily Riley told ClickZ News last year in regards to the third-party ad tag acceptance. “It’s good for Google to have display data connected to search data… They get a larger piece of the pie from a top-down campaign perspective.”

Google said the new offering will be available to publisher sites based in North America and Europe first before possibly rolling out elsewhere.