Google Opens AdSense for Mobile to Publisher Sites

In a move aimed at ramping up the amount of mobile inventory it can offer advertisers, Google has opened its AdSense contextual ad platform to content owners with sites created for handset browsers.

AdSense for Mobile first appeared in beta form back in July. Its formal debut gives publishers and advertisers another option alongside existing mobile ad networks Third Screen Media, now a part of AOL’s Advertising.com, and AdMob. However, recruiting a large number of publisher partners with significant traffic and reach may pose a challenge, even to Google.

“There is a lot of demand for mobile advertising at the moment, and there is a shortage of inventory,” said Ray Anderson, CEO and founder of Bango, a mobile marketing and commerce service company. “It may be challenging for Google to find sites to place mobile ads on.”

Even so, Anderson believes publishers will test AdSense for Mobile, and thereafter decide whether to commit to it. “Will people place Google AdSense on their [mobile] sites? The only answer to that can be people will try it and see if the money talks. On the other hand, the credibility of Google and the fact that people use Google already will help get this off to a good start.”

Just last week Google began allowing AdWords advertisers to distribute campaigns to Google Mobile Search.