DoubleClick Ad Exchange: middleman Google

In a statement Google's vice president of product management Neal Mohan said "Better technology can help make display advertising work better for all involved. We're focused on growing the display advertising pie for everyone. The DoubleClick Ad Exchange is a major part of that goal."

Google acquired Doubleclick in 2008 for 2,11 billion euros. The sale then was considered a major step for Google. Until recently however the display advertising had not been a real big part of Google's business. Now that will change a lot.

Google says the DoubleClick Ad Exchange has three principles: Simplify the system for buying and selling display ads, Deliver better performance that advertisers and agencies can measure and Open up the ecosystem. They want to "democratize access to display advertising and make it accessible and open, like search advertising".

A full explanation of the Ad Exchange can be found in a pdf Google published. Google also launched this video to explain the Ad Exchange.

So what will this mean for the advertisement industry? Will this mean regular media-buyers are in trouble? Will advertisers start doing business on their own? Or will this even be a chance for the search (PPC)-industry? We asked a couple of experts:

Jon Myers (Head of Search, MediaVest)

"As display buyers we have been waiting for Google to look at better ways of serving Display content that extend past You Tube, we have always had image ads on the Google content network but with the new Ad Exchange we can optimise this now much more effectively. I like it, it gives us a bit more oppotunity to distribute good content but still manage it in a PPC kind of way."

Joost de Valk (Orange Valley)

"I'm quite curious how media-agencies will handle this. And also I'm quite curious to see what it will do to positions of sales-people at websites. The big question however will be if advertisers will start using this to see the ROI of their campaigns and become more aware of what they are buying."

Louis Venter (Mediavision)

"Google will need to diversify as there seems to be a trend of PPC click volumes decreasing. That could be linked to the credit crunch or it could be linked to higher click rate on organic. Either way the display market seems to be the next logical step for them."

Andrew Girdwood, (Head of Strategy Big Mouth Media)

"Bigmouthmedia welcomes DoubleClick Ad Exchange as good news for the digital marketing community as a whole. The Ad Exchange puts together the best of two worlds – combing the price precision, analytical insight and bidding of search marketing with the brand building, reach and visual impact of display advertising. 

The Ad Exchange is part of a general shift towards analytical and insight heavy digital marketing. Marketing agencies and in-house teams that’ll do best in the new ad economy are those with the capability to  handle all the data now available, analyze it and then act swiftly on the results."