Google Debuts First Integration With AdMob; Adds AdSense Inventory To Mobile Network

When Google bought AdMob last year for $750 million, many were impressed as the search giant was able to outbid Apple in the fight for the mobile ad network. AdMob seemed like the perfect compliment to Google’s ad platform. But the past year has been tumultuous for the acquisition. The FTC investigated the deal for anti-competitiveness in the market, and Apple shot back with its own acquisition and ad platform iAds. While the FTC eventually signed off on the AdMob deal, the company recently suffered the abrupt loss of its leader and CEO, Omar Hamoui, and a number of other high-level execs at AdMob. And just this week, Business Insider published a report that the integration between AdMob and Google’s own ad offering wasn’t going that well. But today, Google is debuting its first integration with the mobile ad network, allowing developers to integrate Google AdSense ads within AdMob.

Google says that iPhone and Android applications developers in the AdMob network will now be able to integrate Google AdSense ads within their app when an AdMob ad is not available. Not only will this additional ad inventory allow publishers to always fill their ad spaces, but Google AdSense advertisers now have access to advertise on “thousands” of mobile apps in AdMob’s network, such as Rovio’s ‘Angry Birds’. AdSense Inventory includes local ads and click-to-call ads, says Google’s Jason Spero.

One potential drawback for publishers is that they will not be able to filter the types of AdSense ads that run in their app. Those who filter their AdMob ad inventory will have to opt-in to the AdSense feature. In terms of backend integration for publishers, developers who are using AdMob’s latest recent version of the SDK will not have to update their code and will continue to receive a single check from AdMob each month that includes revenue from both AdSense and AdMob ads.

When I asked Spero about the rumored trouble in Google-AdMob land, he said that he couldn’t comment on the recent departures but said that with this first integration, the team is extremely fired up about launch, and focused on creating new products that leverage everything that AdMob and Google both bring to the table.

Spero added that from this point, the AdMob and Google teams are planning to launch a number of new integration that combine the two technologies in the future.

One thing is for sure. Despite possible trouble in paradise, AdMob continues to be an appealing platform to both advertisers and publishers, and is launching new and innovative products to reel in both parties. And that is sure to translate into major dollars for Google.