Google Officially Adds AdMob to its List of Acquisitions
Google spent $750 million for its 3rd largest acquisition to date behind DoubleClick ($3.1 billion) and YouTube ($1.65 billion). DoubleClick strengthened Google’s arm in display advertising and YouTube gave them the most popular video collection on the Web as well as another outlet for advertisements. Now the AdMob deal gives Google the world’s largest mobile advertising marketplace.
We knew about this acquisition since last November, but the Federal Trade Commission began an investigation over concerns that the deal would give Google too much power in the mobile advertising market. However, just over a month ago Apple unveiled iAd, its mobile advertising platform, which helped Google’s acquisition process move forward because iAd looks like it will be a solid competitor. After the federal government said the acquistion was approved last Friday (5/21/2010), Google wasted no time in closing the deal.
Google shared some statistics about mobile advertising that shed light on why they were after this deal in the first place. “Over the past two years, Google’s mobile search volumes have grown more than fivefold, at an accelerated pace. In the first three months of 2010, people with smartphones with “full” WebKit browsers (such as the iPhones, Android devices and Palm Pre) searched 62 percent more than they did in the previous three months.”
This definitely looks like another big win for Google. According to Gartner research, worldwide smartphone sales have leaped 49% over last year, and represent 17% of all phones sold. AdMob was one of the first companies to serve ads on the iPhone and Android platforms (close to 30% of smartphone sales), and they will help Google bring more ads via interactive video ad units and expandable rich media ads to the market.
There’s no doubt mobile advertising will continue to grow as more consumers reach into their pockets to search for their needs instead of their desk, and with this acquisition Google has solidified its role as the advertising and search leader.
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