DoubleClick's DART to Work with Mobile Ad Networks

For publishers, running a mobile site has typically meant committing to one ad network for all inventory. Today DoubleClick integrated a handful of mobile ad networks into its DoubleClick Mobile interface, allowing publishers to pick and choose.

DoubleClick is allowing mobile ad networks, namely AdMob, Google’s AdSense for mobile content, and Millennial Media’s MBrand and Decktrade, to integrate with its DART for Publishers (DFP) platform. This gives publishers the ability to go with the network that offers the best deal, replicating the way it works on the Web.

“Web publishers have been able to do this on the Internet for 10 years,” said Ari Paparo, group product manager at DoubleClick products.

Until this point, publishers have primarily contracted with one ad network to sell ads. In some cases, publishers have split inventory between the network and their own sales team. In a deal between NBC and Jumptap, the network may sell mobile inventory as part of an integrated package, while JumpTap has rights to sell inventory independently.

Recently Verizon made separate deals with AOL’s Platform A and Millennial Media, essentially dividing its inventory across two networks. Platform A is the preferred network in the deal, and can guarantee placement on Verizon’s deck.

“There should be a more open environment, and that’s the way the ecosystem’s going to grow,” said Paul Palmieri, president and CEO of Millennial Media. “We think this will actually bring more publishers into mobile that may not have had a mobile presence before.”

DoubleClick, now part of Google, wants to continue to be neutral to ad networks. “That’s why we didn’t just integrate AdSense,” said Paparo. Google just released its mobile image ads as part of AdSense last week.

Integration with ad networks is of greater benefit to publishers than advertisers, though advertisers may find they have access to consumers in their target segments than they did previously. “There have been any number of mobile properties that have not made their mobile inventory available to advertisers, and greater tools for the publisher will probably mean greater access to mobile inventory,” said Jason Spero, VP of marketing at AdMob.

Paparo said from a publisher’s perspective, integrating ad networks with DFP “opens the floodgates and makes intelligent sales possible.” With increasing amounts of mobile, publishers want to monetize content as much as possible through direct and indirect sales.