expertSEM

In a continued effort to control the world, Google has added another weapon to the arsenal. (I kid, I kid!) Using what Google refers to as “chump change” the search engine and web advertising juggernaut purchased mobile display and top in-application ad serving network AdMob yesterday. Not only does the move validate the growing importance of mobile advertising, but it is also pretty exciting to us mobile marketing enthusiasts.

Mike Wehrs, president/CEO of the Mobile Marketing Association, could barely contain himself! “We’ve been talking about the awesome opportunity that mobile marketing brings to the world. Some people understand that, and this deal shows that the largest and best-known advertising company—Google—understands the awesomeness of the opportunity, and they understand where this is going.” We agree Mike. Awesome.

Joking aside, this is quite an exciting move by Google. AdMob is specialized in areas of mobile advertising that Google isn’t, and is currently one of the top companies in the country offering mobile display ads and in-application ads (read: millions of iPhone users). However, this deal really should come as no surprise considering AOL, Yahoo! and Microsoft have made similar acquisitions in the past couple years.

So what will it all mean? According to a great post on Mobile Marketer about the acquisition,  Google feels the deal will “bring new innovation and competition to mobile advertising and will lead to more effective tools for creating, serving and analyzing emerging mobile ad formats.” And in the “real world”? Only time can tell, but as someone who has been researching mobile ad networks and ad serving platforms, I feel that the greatest benefit has to be availability of new placements and sites. The biggest drawback to most networks is that only some publishers offer mobile content placements, and those that do, have most likely chosen an ‘exclusive partner.’ Thereby I am hopeful that Google’s connections and influence will lead to an expanded offering and “one-stop-shop” convenience.

…And for the user? Well. Google has you on every screen now. Muhwhahaha!