FTC Approves The Admob Deal; Android Now At The Heart Of Ad Strategy For Google

I would love to sit in on a Google strategy meeting some morning. It would be an education. As you watch all media becoming more digital, you can see the company encroaching on all fronts. Last week could be an important week for Google's mobile and tv ad strategy. There were a number of big announcements at this year's Google I/O event, but the most eye-catching was the launch of Google TV. Google TV is looking to bring the web into the living room, and is partnering Sony to bring the new product to the masses. What I found interesting about this announcement was that Google TV is being built on the Android OS. This timed nicely with the FTC approval of the $750 million dollar Admob deal. It is the biggest mobile ad network globally, and it will fit nicely into ad strategy for Google TV. Android apps will run on the new platform, and you would assume that mobile advertising will be served across all web properties running on Google TV. If that is the case, think of the mass market that Google will have the potential of monetising. The global TV ad spend is worth hundreds of billions of euro. If it gets any traction in the TV market, it could be a huge revenue stream for Google. The Admob purchase seems even more important now with the release of this new product.

This is also a potentially large opening for the mobile ad market. If the union of PC and TV is successful think of the opportunity for those in the mobile space – given that this innovation will be built on mobile operating systems. Some of the mobile ad networks could be well placed to make serious money. And what happens if peoples’ online habits migrate from PC to TV? Where would that leave the online display market? I found it interesting as to why some of the yield optimisers were looking to move into the relatively small mobile display market (worth only £35 million in the UK). And indeed why Google and Apple would shell out such large sums for mobile ad networks with relatively low turnovers. It now makes sense. Mobile ads served on TV to billions of eyeballs can justify the hype. Watch the big display ad nets move into the mobile space aggressively over the coming months.