Google buys Admeld

IDG News Service - Hoping to further boost its position in display advertising, Google scooped up Admeld, a company that aims to simplify the display ad buying process, the companies said Monday.

They did not disclose the value of the deal.

Admeld lets publishers connect from one place to a variety of ad networks, demand-side platforms and agency trading desks. Ad buyers from those sources compete for impressions through Admeld's unified auction. Admeld also offers real-time analytics. "

In a blog post announcing the acquisition, Google wrote that it hopes to simplify the complicated ad management process for publishers.

"We often hear from major website publishers that ad management today is still mind-numbingly complicated and inefficient," wrote Neal Mohan, Google's vice president of display advertising.

They also hope to improve efficiencies and the flexibility of ad management tools, they said.

"Though we have no specific integration plans yet, we imagine our combined offerings can help publishers make more informed, efficient, and profitable decisions across all tiers of their inventory," Michael Barrett, CEO for Admeld, wrote in a blog post about the deal.

The companies said that Admeld will continue to support other ad networks, demand-side platforms, exchanges and ad servers. The deal is subject to regulatory review.

While Google has historically been the underdog in display advertising, it just recently took the top spot. IDC recently reported that in the first quarter of this year, Google's share of the display ad market rose to 14.7%, for the first time beating Yahoo, which had 13.6% of the market.

Rumors of Google's purchase of Admeld surfaced last week but at the time neither company confirmed the acquisition. Techcrunch reported that the deal was worth $400 million.

Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy's e-mail address is Nancy_Gohring@idg.com