Google Ad Planner to be Announced Today

Internet rumor has it that Google is set to announce their new web measurement tool today. Various articles in the Wall Street Journal, NY Times, and others are all saying that Wayne Lin, Google Business Product Manager, will announce the new tool this afternoon at the Advertising Research Foundation media conference.

As most of us who plan and buy online media know, the current tools available are either lacking or quite expensive. To be fair, I have not used comScore or Nielsen @Plan due to their prohibitive costs. I currently use Quantcast and Compete for the majority of my research. However, while these tools give you a basic idea of site traffic and audience demo, that’s really where their usefulness ends.

Another issue with these tools is that they, like old-school media measurement tools, rely on user panels. This means that only those who have allowed comScore, et al. to measure their web activity are included in the numbers. The reason that Google’s program may be more beneficial is that they will be gathering data from web servers. This should allow them to have more definitive data.

It seems that many of the initial reactions to this announcement are concerned that this gives Google even more power over the online advertising space. Is this a valid concern? Possibly, but I will wait to use the tool before making any further judgments on it.

For me, this is an exciting development. I have found most online research tools to be quite disappointing. If Google Ad Planner can make research easier and more conclusive, then it will allow me to spend more time on strategy as well as campaign management and optimization.

Once this tool is released, please check back for a full review.