Google is bringing real time branding metrics into its ad technology via an integration with comScore, the company announced yesterday.
The integration will allow both publishers and advertisers to instantly monitor whether their campaigns are hitting the right age and gender metrics, and adjust accordingly. Additionally, it will give brands access to some of the real time optimization cherished by direct response marketers – but those capabilities are somewhat less valuable to brands, who are not going after conversions and clicks.
The announcement signifies yet another big push by Google to get brand dollars flowing through its technology. As Ad Age reported last week, the company has been working to bring brands budgets into its programmatic technology by curating top tier publisher inventory in “custom brand exchanges.” Advertisers such as GM, Burberry and Disney have participated.
Mohan said the integration will largely be used by those working in DoubleClick‘s Campaign Manager tool, but it could also be useful to publishers looking to course correct campaigns that are not delivering to the right audiences. The upgrade is significant when compared to the products’ previous functionality, which allowed users to monitor these metrics only by pulling reports after the fact.
When asked why Google partnered with comScore as opposed to Nielsen, which has partnered with Facebook, but Mohan gave little insight into what drove the decision. “This announcement is a deep technology integration with comScore that we’re very excited about, but it doesn’t mean we’re not going to work with other partners,” he said.
Google, of course, has its own measurement capabilities, but Mohan said the company is content to lean on partnerships in this case. “Measurement needs to be something that all of us in the industry need to work together on,” he said. “It can’t be something that we work on in isolation.”
