Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) unveiled its Ad Manager advertising management platform this week after a beta release in June. This platform allows website operators to manage advertising inventory, tracking and ROI. And the price is right -- there is none -- which fits into Google's history of giving away some key products for free.Google's Ad Manager public release is significant because it will allow almost anyone to set up and use both direct and network-based advertising to help eliminate costs and pump up revenue -- even if the ads aren't from Google's massively popular AdSense or AdWords program.
However, Google is making it super easy for website publishers to integrate its AdSense platform directly into its Ad Manager product. This was pretty obvious from day one as Google continues to recruit more ad customers into its universe to grow its own ad revenue. Ad revenue, still, is the biggest single component of Google's income.
Google needs to establish its ad platform as the de facto standard on the majority of websites where ad inventory is available. If it's successful, it could have quite a bit of growth in front of it. The problem is that Google doesn't have the best track record in marketing its products. This one needs to be everywhere a potential advertising partner may see it. Google certainly has the cash pile to spend on selling this platform.
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