Google Opens AdMob to a Torrent of AdSense Ads

A year after it agreed to buy mobile ad network AdMob for $750, Google has taken its first step to integrate the unit with its own ad business. AdMob’s Android and iPhone application publishers will soon be able to fill their unsold inventory with Google AdSense ads, letting advertisers extend their mobile campaigns across AdMob’s network.

Writing on Google’s mobile advertising blog, Jason Morse, Google mobile ads product manager, described the move as “the first of many exciting things to come with the integration of AdMob and Google.”

Google’s deal to buy AdMob, signed in November 2009, triggered a competition-related FTC investigation that delayed the deal’s closinguntil May. That investigation likely limited Google’s ability to incorporate the company as quickly as it intended.

Developers using a recent version of the AdMob SDK will not need to update their code to open their apps to advertising demand from Google’s AdSense ad network, and eligible apps will automatically be opted in to serve them so long as publishers have not chosen to filter their ads from AdMob. That should result in an immediate increase in mobile inventory for AdSense.

Last week AdMob also announced it was introducing new video ad formats for Google’s Android mobile operating system, further aligning the two companies.

Google implied those new units were designed to capitalize on the strong growth of Android handset sales, stating over 200,000 new Android devices are currently being activated on a daily basis, compared with 60,000 daily in February.