It’s taken a long time but Google finally launched its free ad serving product, Ad Manager. Scott Switzer has a good post about it that is a variant of “do I hand over ALL of the keys to my monetization” to Google argument that will continue to rage around the online ad space for some time to come.

We’ll have a lot more to say on this topic in the near future - we’ve been quiet here at CPM Advisors as we’ve been ramping up ad management efforts on behalf of some of our publisher partners. I have long been in favor of a more open adserving approach, and have my doubts that Google will be the one to be the bringer of openness to this market. They can and will certainly bring a dose of “free”, as expected.