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June 25, 2007

Insider Thinks Google Won’t Serve DoubleClick’s ASP Customers

I had an interesting talk with Dana Ghavami, CEO of rich media/ad management firm CheckM8 the other day. One topic our discussion naturally flowed towards was the recent upheaval in the ad management space, spurred on by Google’s DoubleClick purchase. I asked him what he thought of AOL’s acquisition of AdTech, a lesser-known Germany-based ad management firm with strong ties to the European market.

While some insiders in the ad management sector have told me they don’t think the acquisition will affect AOL’s relationship with the now Google-owned DoubleClick (AOL is one of if not the biggest client DC has), Ghavami disagreed.

“I don't think it’s a coincidence that they outright bought AdTech," he told me during our talk a couple weeks ago. “I would go so far as to say that AOL Time Warner will be using AdTech as their in-house publisher solution."

Ghavami believes that once Google begins servicing DoubleClick clients, it may ditch companies like AOL that license its technology, rather than plugging into DC through its ASP system.

“There is a very good chance that DoubleClick is no longer going to support their licenses," said Ghavami. He believes that Google bought DC for access to the data flowing through its ASP system, and if they don’t have access to some clients’ data, they won’t want to serve them, at least in the current capacity. He added, “They don't want to have the DoubleClick data out of their hands on the publishers’ systems….It’s outside of the Googleplex.”

Continued Ghavami, “DoubleClick is now serving the interests of Google and not DoubleClick's customers.”

Posted by Kate Kaye at June 25, 2007 9:38 AM

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