Google+ Interactive Ad Layer

I have written before about Google / Google Plus and their interactive, actionable ad units (here is a great example from Google Offers and one for Google's emailable ads here). Below is an example of Google Plus being integrated into an otherwise standard ad unit. Natural evolution and integration here - it sits atop the add and creates a social layer that:

1. The brands welcome. There is action and benefit beyond the click-through.

2. Google loves. They drive usage of Google Plus and give advertiser another medium to extract & measure value.

Should Facebook Ads move off-Facebook.com - these interactions will be really key (point 2 here).

Google's Q1: 60,000 Android Devices Activated Daily; AdSense Revenue Growth (+24%)

During their Q1 earnings announcements, Google revealed some good tidbits about their business and strategic initiatives... which clearly include Android and Chrome:

- 34 devices from 12 OEMs are Android operated - 60,000 Android devices are sold and activated daily... that's a run-rate of 21m / yr - which is an Apple-worthy number - 38,000 Android apps - which is +70% quarter over quarter - With Android, Google is focused on "openness" of market and platform - Nexus One is "profitable" One other interesting note from the Google search business - Google-owned properties drove $4.44B in revenue (+20%) - AdSense is $2.04B (+24%)

More from TechCrunch and PaidContent

New YouTube / Google AdSense Unit?

I cannot tell if these are:- new YouTube ad-units, or - bizarre / sneaky advertiser units

... but they are appearing more and more across the Google AdSense network. The below screenshots are taken directly from advertisements appearing on my blog:

1. This is what a standard YouTube unit looks like: big play button in the upper right corner and the standard YouTube footer beneath (play, sound, progress bar and "Ads By Google logo").

2. This is an example of a different "YouTube" unit... whether official or not: an image, a smaller Play button that prominently displays "YouTube.com" and text that looks like a text AdSense unit.

3. The unit is fishy for three reasons: A. When clicking "play", it goes to the YouTube URL rather than playing in-line, and B. The unit's size is slightly off - if you highlight through the text, you notice that it scrolls within the unit (see the difference between these two screenshots) C. Google is very particular about showing the "Ads by Google" graphic... which is hidden unless you scroll down

Here are two more examples... suggesting that it is in fact a new unit:

Google AdSense Expandable Ads... No More?

I was very excited to read that Google AdSense was launching Expandable Ads - essentially growing rich media units that are more interactive and likely draw greater CPMs. I am excited because it is an opportunity to expand the reach of richer ad units which are making waves in video (see VideoEgg, Tremor Media, etc) and in widgets (Widgetbox). Venturebeat had this screenshot:

Google Expandable Ads

But strangely, Google has since removed their post about the product that has been linked to from various sites... was this intended as a private beta launch? Or did it leak? Not sure - but hopefully it will make it way onto this blog!

Page not found Sorry, the page you were looking for in the blog Inside AdSense does not exist.

Update: Google's blog post is now live again.

Google's New AdSense 'Scroll Through' Button for Graphics, Rich Media

This weekend, I spent time experimenting with Pligg and have Rankible.com to show for it... and while it's not much yet (!), it's already revealed quite a lot about Google AdSense. Yesterday I wrote about the growing rich-media inventory and today I noticed a new AdSense format. Below is a screenshot of a 728x60 leaderboard that has the standard "Ads by Google" logo in the corner. But above the logo is a carousel button to navigate forward and backward... almost like the scroll through buttons on text ads. But what's unique here is that the button advances to other graphical ads - and those ads are for the same company.

I can't figure out if this is a new treatment made specifically for single advertisers / campaigns - or if the intent is to roll the format out to all ad formats such that it can showcase more units more quickly. The challenge there is that the button won't always be compatible with graphical units (size, color, etc) and auto-scrolling through units would be far more confusing than with text.

The benefit to Google? More impressions. More real estate. And a lot more data on conversions and user interaction.

Google AdSense Next Button

Google AdSense Rich Media Inventory Growing?

Quietly, it appears that Google AdSense's rich media inventory is growing nicely... even despite the economic climate which has many online advertisers scaling down. I don't have any hard data to prove the point - but when you default AdSense to display image-only ads, you'll find that video and rich-media units are appearing more quickly and with greater rotation. Many of the ads are pop-culture focused (see the movie preview unit below) - which means that the ads rotate regularly as new shows, movies, etc are being promoted.

Although the screenshot below is at about a 50% size reduction, you'll notice the top leaderboard which is a GM / Google promotion that installs iGoogle gadgets. The "add to iGoogle" button pulses on mouse hover. It's a terrific promotion and the creative is superbly done - enticing users to engage with the unit and explore what the action does (in one case, "adding to iGoogle" and in the other, previewing the movie).

As a publisher, I'm excited about seeing richer, more engaging units on my content.... because, as a consumer, I prefer to see this kind of content.... consequently satisfying the advertiser and making him/her more inclined to grow their campaigns.

Google AdSense Promotion

The Election, Poltical Ad Spend & AdSense

This morning, I was notified by friends and blog readers of political ads running on my site ... it's happened quite frequently over the last few months and I've gone to Google to put out each small fire using their competitive ad filter (which, by nature, is a reactive process). This time, I got an ad supporting "Yes on Prop 8" - which is already highly controversial and certainly nothing I would place on my blog (which I work hard to maintain as politically neutral and tech / web / mobile focused): Prop 8 Advertisement

I am frustrated that Google doesn't have a meta-filter for ad categories that are political in nature (for instance)... asking me to block domain after domain is not particularly easy or effective.

Furthermore, I was asked by a specific ad-network (Forbes) to run this ad last week at premium CPMs (likely higher than what Google would pay) - and I declined. So you can imagine my frustration that the ads run DESPITE my prior decline at higher ad rates.

Update: TechCrunch just wrote about this exact topic... and the same ads. Glad to know others are also unhappy

Is Google Reducing Their AdSense Payouts & Increasing Their Take?

Om Malik's "Why Google’s Partners Should Be Worried" is by far my most interesting read of the last few days specifically because it's a sentiment that I've heard quite a bit of recently... and, if true, it is very important news:

Google’s partners however, should gulp hard, for the Mountain View, Calif.-based search and online advertising company is keeping more and more of its online ad bounty for itself. You can see that from the three metrics: revenues from Google-owned sites, revenue generated by partner sites and the traffic acquisition costs. Google’s partners’ piece of the pie isn’t growing that much...

My view is that given that the partner share is essentially flat while Google’s share is up: that means Google is shifting more of its advertising inventory to its own pages where it doesn’t have to share the goodies with partners. its own pages have no content cost and hence are better in terms of making money.

I have talked to a few partners in the past and they are all saying that Google has been slowly squeezing their share. I shouldn’t expect anything else - Google has to keep up the revenue growth game or its whole game falls apart. it spends too much money and it needs to in order to stay ahead of microsoft. so in turn it needs to make a ton of money — whatever it takes.

I don't agree with the math Om used to justify his argument - but I too have heard what Om has: "Google has been slowly squeezing their share." I have also heard sentiments that it the "slow" squeeze sped up once the economy and stock price fell in recent weeks...

One thing is certain: when your partners don't have a clear understanding of your rev-share (99% of AdSense publishers don't know their take) - Google has the ability / flexibility to do this...