Michael Learmonth, digital media reporter at Ad Age, wrote an article about Google’s plans to build an exchange for the buying and selling of online data as part of its focus on creating an infrastructure to comprehensively power display advertising. Lotame Chief Operating Officer Adam Lehman chimed in, “Right now there is huge fragmentation in how data is accessed and how it is used. Google is in a different position to fundamentally change the landscape.”
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Wall Street-like exchanges have revolutionized online advertising, but Google is taking the concept further, quietly building one for buying and selling data, the lifeblood of online advertising.
The exchange, known internally by the acronym “DDP,” is an attempt to create a liquid market for the data used to target display advertising, and it’s the latest move in Google’s attempt to build out the infrastructure that powers digital ads. Executives familiar with Google’s plans have described the initiative as one of the most ambitious in Google’s march to become a brand advertising giant.
Here’s how a data exchange works: publishers and third-party providers, such as BlueKai and Exelate, would be able to feed their data into the market and advertisers could dip in and buy audience segments, such as people shopping for new cars or planning a trip, soccer moms in Ohio, or readers of certain sites like The New York Times. That data, attached to a cookie, is used to target advertising to the right people. Online publishers using Google’s ad server, DoubleClick, would be able to sell data on their audiences in the exchange as easily as they might sell ad space.
Google declined to comment on the specifics or offer a timetable for a data-exchange product, though executives briefed on their plans believe it is perhaps weeks away from rolling out at least some of its functionality.
The architect of Google’s display strategy is former DoubleClick exec and VP Neal Mohan. He told Ad Age that “we are working on a couple of things,” but also said “there is no timetable” for what will be released and when?
“If our vision is a comprehensive one, it needs to contemplate data in addition to ad inventory,” he said in an interview. “We are working on initiatives to help publishers and advertisers do just that.”
