Google-DoubleClick merger 'may deter marketers'

10th December 2007

Google's $3.1 billion (£1.5 billion) acquisition of DoubleClick may drive marketers towards alternative media sources, rather than attract them to advertise, it has been claimed.

Kevin Lee, chairman of search marketing firmDidit, told Advertising Age magazine that many marketers were "quite uncomfortable" with the fact that such a large internet company would be the owner of such a wealth of ad-effective data.

The Google and DoubleClick deal is awaiting clearance by the Federal Communications Commission this week, after privacy and anti-competition concerns were raised.

Advertising placement company DoubleClick would work alongside Google using knowledge of individual web users' habits - stored by the search engine - in order to place a customised portfolio of adverts.

"Co-mingling the advertising and marketing data might actually result in better targeted advertising, but neither the marketer nor many consumers are willing to give any one organisation that much power," commented Mr Lee.

Google's profits reached $1.07 billion during the third quarter of 2007, a 46 per cent increase from the same period last year.