search marketing blog: ambergreen

Google has completed its purchase of DoubleClick having been given the green light by the European Union. The deal cost the search company £1.5 billion and will unite it with a leading ad–provider. “Google and DoubleClick were not exerting major competitive constraints on each other’s activities and could, therefore, not be considered as competitors at the moment,” the Commission said. The deal attracted criticism for competitors such as Microsoft and Yahoo! and from consumer groups concerned that together the companies could gather vast amounts of user data. US authorities had already approved the deal, as had legislators in Australia which saw no cause for concern on anti-competitive grounds. The Centre for Digital Democracy, in a letter to the US Federal Trade Commission had told policy makers the deal would create ” insurmountable barriers to entry in the interactive ad market”.

The European Commission is expected to allow Google to buy Double-Click, sources close to the deal told Reuters. The deal would combine Google’s search capability with the online advertising company that provides the ads. Tim Armstrong, president of advertising and commerce, is keen for it to go through. “This transaction will strengthen our advertising network by expanding our access to publisher inventory and enabling us to serve the needs of a broader set of advertisers and ad agencies,” he said. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) decided not to intervene in the merger as the two companies were not close rivals. Its chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel said: “In this context, the ACCC considered that the merger was unlikely to result in a substantial lessening of competition in an Australian market.” Some privacy concerns have been raised as Google keeps users’ search data and DoubleClick connects advertisers and publishers.

TV and newspaper advertising are less effective than email at getting consumers to go online, Brand Republic has reported. Research by Response One found that customer emails are 52 per cent more likely than average to make consumers turn to the web - TV/newspaper ads lagged behind at 34 per cent. Amanda Ling, data intelligence director said the research showed there were other ways to drive web visits. Significantly, Response One found advertising on social networks was 26 per cent less likely than average to encourage web buying activities. However, these results were notably different depending on which age group the respondents belonged to – those aged 18-24 thought it was 22 per cent better than average at getting users to seriously consider a purchase. Newspaper publishers are now looking to mobile online adverts to support their businesses. News International has created Leadership in Mobile and hopes to offer the market new advertising data.

Phorm, the digital technology company that signed deals with three of the UK’s internet service providers (ISPs), has defended its plans. The company is set to collect data from web users who are signed to contracts with BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk. Senior vice president, Marc Burgess told the Guardian: “Our privacy claims have been audited by Ernst & Young they have been through our system and seen that it does what we say it does.” Phorm uses anonymised ISP data streams and targets users by deciding ‘channels’ or groups of users with similar interests. “We have spoken to the Information Commissioner’s Office. All of the privacy groups in the US, UK and Europe have been impressed by our approach,” he explained. The firm’s Open Internet Exchange (OIX) will track surfers’ activities, record the URL and header data of visited sites but not the users’ IP address. Targeted advertisements provide users with messages that are more relevant based on their browsing and search habits - eMarketer has predicted that online ad spending will surpass £3 billion in 2008.

Google has agreed that clicks on its search adverts have fallen, Online Media Daily has reported. Alan Eustace, senior vice president of engineering & research told delegates at a conference in California it was down to their recent algorithmic changes. He explained the changes had occurred on the ad-serving end and were due to the reduction of clickable space. Mr Eustace said the company opted to “reduce the number of advertisers and decrease accidental clicks”. This he hoped would deliver “better information to users and make them click more in the long run.” Research by comScore revealed that the number of paid clicks per Google search query were down by eight per cent since December. The analyst has agreed with the search company’s explanation, saying Google’s own initiatives were responsible for the decline. One approach to help fight ‘click fraud’ would see users provide marketers with personal data so they are identified each time.

Ambergreen can help you track your customer’s buying behaviour and monitors the metrics for potential click fraud so you know you’re in safe hands.