Google’s DoubleClick Gets a New Look

Google has announced a new release of DoubleClick for publishers, available in two versions (for large and small publishers). Along with the new release, Google has given the DoubleClick logo a makeover.

"To reflect our continued investment in DoubleClick's products, as well as the central role of DoubleClick's technology products within Google's display advertising business, we're also today unveiling some changes to the DoubleClick logos — including typeset changes, incorporating a new 'by Google' theme and retiring the 'DART' brand," explains Vice President of Product Management Neal Mohan.

"This is the next generation of Google Ad Manager, bringing many requested features such as a new web services API, an improved user interface, and new reporting capabilities," says Google Ad Manager Product Manager Alex Vogenthaler. "We will be upgrading all Google Ad Manager accounts to DFP Small Business automatically. GAM users will see the new DFP Small Business name and logo within the product and related resources upon completion of the upgrade. Usernames, passwords, ad delivery data and account data will be unaffected by this change. New customers signing up for Google Ad Manager today will automatically be upgraded on the same schedule as current Ad Manager publishers."

The new DoubleClick for Publishers can be found here, complete with FAQs, support information, etc. Google has also set up a series of videos to give users a quick overview of the upcoming changes. In addition, Google offering webinars discussing the changes.

2010: The Year of the Display Ad for Google?

This could be the year of the display ad. That's not to say that display ads aren't prevalent every year, but Google has only been involved with that for a little while, and if analysts' projections are accurate, this will be the year that Google's display ad business tops $1 billion in sales.

Last summer, Google CEO Eric Schmidt suggested that display ads would be Google's next big billion-dollar business. According to BusinessWeek, a Barclays Capital analyst says display ads will account for about 4% of Google's total sales in 2010. This would be a 40% increase from their contribution in 2009. BW's Douglas MacMillan reports:

Sales of video and banner ads on YouTube, the world's most popular video site, are expected by analysts at Barclays to contribute the bulk of Google's display revenue this year, about $700 million. And with DoubleClick, Google acquired a technology that handles the placement of display ads on sites across the Web. "Display is now a key business for us," says Susan Wojcicki, Google's vice-president of product management and one of the company's earliest employees.

Neal Mohan, the executive in charge of Google's display business, says Google will draw on its strength in search-related advertising to expand in display. It became the leader in search by using algorithms to help it know which ads to place where. "Our goal is to bring the science of search to the art of display," Mohan says.

Advertisers will probably not be shy about getting on board with that. "Research has shown that exposure to both search and display ads from the same advertiser results in a 22 percent increase for conversion rates over search alone," Rich Kahn, CEO of display ad provider eZanga told WebProNews last year.

Back in November, Google announced its acquisition of Teracent, a provider of "intelligent dynamic display advertising". It provides machine-learning algorithms, which can create customized display ads based on thousands of different creative elements.

Google says the one on the right was created with Teracent's technology.

"Teracent's technology can pick and choose from literally thousands of creative elements of a display ad in real-time — tweaking images, products, messages or colors," Google said. "These elements can be optimized depending on factors like geographic location, language, the content of the website, the time of day or the past performance of different ads."

Before that announcement, Google launched a tool to measure the impact of display ad campaigns across the Google Content Network called Campaign Insights, which Google says can give reliable data about how a campaign has raised brand awareness or active user interest in a particular product or service. Google has also repeatedly added new templates  for advertisers to use when constructing their creative.
 

Have You Read This?

> Does Size Matter in Display Advertising?

> Google Launches New Display Ad Measurement Tool

> Google Launches New Templates for Display Ads

AOL Shares Financial Results of the Transition Period

AOL has announced it Q4 earnings, which show how the company performed during its final days as part of Time Warner, as well as the beginning of its transition to the current incarnation.

"We have made significant progress in support of the long-term vision we see in the future of AOL, but today's results continue to reflect the need for our focus and execution on the work required in the turnaround of the Company," said Chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong. "2009 marked the closing of an important chapter in AOL's history and the opening of a new chapter that we are passionately pursuing. We have a clearly defined strategy, and we enter 2010 incredibly focused on day-to-day execution."

Here's the summary:

AOL says Q4 revenue declines reflect continued attrition in the subscriber base, leading to declines in subscription and search & contextual revenue. While AOL Properties global display advertising revenue declined 3%, AOL Properties domestic display advertising revenue grew 1%, its first quarter of year-over-year growth in eight quarters. Other noteworthy items as highlighted by the company include:

- Q4 costs of revenues declined at a lower rate than revenue reflecting a 12% increase in traffic acquisition costs (TAC) primarily associated with payments for shipments related to a significant product distribution arrangement. As of December 31, 2009, new shipments under this contract ceased.

- Full-year and Q4 2009 Adjusted OIBDA, operating income and pre-tax income include $190 million and $107 million, respectively, in restructuring costs and certain other items fully discussed on page 8 of this press release.

- We anticipate our restructuring efforts will reduce ongoing operating expenses, excluding TAC and net of incremental operating investments in the business, by approximately $150 million in 2010.

- Full-year and Q4 2008 operating loss and net loss reflect a $2.2 billion non-cash goodwill impairment charge.

- Full-year cash provided by operations declined, driven by Adjusted OIBDA declines. The cash flow impact of these declines was partially offset by the timing of working capital changes, including lower employee bonus payments in 2009. Full-year 2009 Free Cash Flow grew slightly, reflecting reduced capital expenditures in 2009. Q4 2009 cash provided by operations and Free Cash Flow declined due to the settlement of a legal matter and a Value Added Tax matter in France.

- AOL had $147.0 million of cash-on-hand as of December 31, 2009, and has not borrowed under the terms of our revolving credit facility, as of February 2, 2010.

Further details and charts can be found here in the release. It will really be interesting to see the report a year from now after AOL has settled into its new role on the web.

Have You Read This?

> AOL Acquires Video Creation/Distribution Company StudioNow

> AOL Top Ad Network In December

> Tim Armstrong Weighing Search Deal With Microsoft

European Commission Clears Joint Venture To Fight Google

For some time now, a sort of "Google vs. Everybody" situation has been developing in Germany.  The bad news for the search giant is that, as four online marketing agencies have prepared to team up, the situation's continuing to take shape, and the European Commission is fine with it.

G + J Electronic Media Service, IP Deutschland, SevenOne Media, and Tomorrow Focus Portal intend to work together in the realm of online display advertising.  A statement issued today explained that they will "develop and sell a new product to allow advertisers to reach better defined target groups of Internet users whose profiles would be created based on anonymous data collected throughout a large network of participating websites."

Individually, these organizations all appear to be rather important and at least fairly successful.  Together, they should represent quite a force.

So here's the extra-noteworthy part: the statement later added, "The Commission concluded that the proposed concentration was unlikely to raise competition concerns given the parties' low market shares in online advertising and the presence of strong competitors like Google."

We'll try to keep an eye on how this joint project proceeds.  Meanwhile, a big hat tip goes to Robert Andrews.

Have You Read This?

> More Complaints Filed Against Google In Germany

> German Justice Minister Likens Google To "Giant Monopoly"

> YouTube Faces Formal Complaints In Germany

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