I’ve got a post brewing in me about this, as it clearly is in my realm of interest, but I plan to get smarter on it first. However, John Chow, who runs the Tech Zone, spills the news that Google is deadly serious about selling direct to the Fortune 1000, and working direct with selected publishers on a CPM basis. Interesting. I knew Google was doing this already, but did not know it had a name!
Google Display Advertising Network was created so Google can go after Fortune 1000 companies, which buy advertising to build a brand more than to sell a product. Google already dominates text and CPC ads so going after display and video ads is the next logical step. Google offers display and video ads to AdSense publishers on CPC and CPM format already. However, the formation of the Display Advertising Network is a clear signal that Google really want to push this forward.
How do you join the Google Display Advertising Network? You can’t. Google won’t even acknowledge it exists. You won’t find anything written about it in any of Google’s web properties. The only way to get into the display network is if Google invites you, which is how I found out about it.
Hat tip to Andy.
Update: Google’s PR has responded to my query about this thusly:
We are not testing or developing a new ad network. The existing display advertising network has been available for over 2 years, and most recently we introduced click-to-play video ads. We are always exploring ways to offer advertisers and publishers more flexibility and control over ad inventory.
I have a lot to say about this. In fact, I have a big brain dump brewing on this very subject – well, on the shift in media and what it means for marketing and audience and authors. It’s coming. I plan to take a day out of my crazed work life and simply write again. Oh, to do that all day long. What joy.
John, the first rule of the Google Display Advertising Network is that you do not discuss the Google Display Advertising Network with anyone!
Here’s more detailed information on Google’s advertising plans. Anybody day trade? Might be looking good for some..
John, how does this secret network differs from Google site targeting which has been available for months in the uk? This is bought on Google Adsense network per vertical on a CPM auction model and with no keywords bidding required. I do not really get what is so special about “Google display advertising network here”. May be I am missing a trick?
L
Sounds a bit familiar:
Transparency in all things …
Except our things.
I’m looking forward to the brain dump 🙂 It’s been a while since you’ve shared one and it should be a doozy. This is a juicy topic.
To Laurent’s point – is this something distinct from site-targeted display ads that have been around for some time now? Recently, Google has added features that make it a bit user friendly in terms of seeing what SIZE display ads are available on what sites… but there’s still a lot of stuff they can do to make it a truly useful experience for advertisers. I still get the sense though that it’s mostly experimental use by marketers, and there is still a lot of work needed to have it optimize correctly. (I wrote a post about this exactly a year ago talking about the problems from a publisher perspective in running CPC and CPM ads in concert).
They’re still plagued by slowness with creative approvals and the like, but like Microsoft in the old days you have no doubt they’ll get there eventually…
No doubt this is a VERY juicy topic, would love to hear more thoughts on this.