It just so happens to be DART’s one and only ad verification solution. Of course, AdXpose is known to get around, also being directly integrated into Atlas, AdTech, Mediaplex MOJO, Zedo and OpenX.

In addition, Mpire has teamed up with a variety of partners, including Digital Broadcasting Group (DBG) Video Network, which in addition to an impressive distributive network also produces original content; Dedicated Media, a display network that serves 5 billion impressions a month; and XA.net, which maintains CPMatic system, a self-service media, data and ad-serving demand-side platform.

Combining Google’s tech and infrastructure with DoubleClick’s display and ad serving expertise, DoubleClick for Publishers offers sophisticated algorithms it promises will automatically improve ad performance. The server has a fresh and intuitive interface along with more detailed reporting and forecasting data to assist publishers in determining their best sources of revenue.

In addition, DFP can be integrated with the DoubleClick Ad Exchange’s dynamic allocation feature to give publishers the ability to take bids on their space from numerous ad networks.

Revenue optimizers will be pleased to know that DFP comes with an open API, allowing publishers and third parties to create and integrate applications that will facilitate the process. Apps currently under development include sales, order management and workflow tools. Google took feedback on its existing ad servers and incorporated the widely-used messaging tech SOAP, which will allow developers to program in just about any language they choose.

Google’s blog noted the company had invested heavily in ad serving products such as DART for Publishers for the big boys and Google Ad Manager for the small but growing. The upgraded ad server has been in the works since Google acquired DoubleClick in 2008.

Last week, The New York Times blogger Louise Story released copies of a series of documents reportedly shared between Microsoft and US Federal Trade Commission members prior to their decision on the Google + DoubleClick merger. The documents reveal that Microsoft was willing to characterize its own competitive position in the Internet advertising market, both before and after a merger took place, as tenuous and perhaps even unsustainable, in order to distinguish itself against what it described to be a larger, perhaps predatory, competitor.
“Advertising is the fuel that powers the Internet,” began one of Microsoft’s position papers. “By combining the dominant network for sales of online advertising with the dominant provider of ad-serving tools (which are the advertiser and publisher ‘portals’ to the online advertising market), Google will obtain dominant control over the ‘pipeline’ for online advertising. The transaction will put Google in a position to extract an increasing portion of the money flowing between advertisers and publishers through the pipeline. It will also enable Google to use its access to, and control over, a predominant share of publisher ‘inventory’ (the ad space on a Web page available to be seen by users) and valuable user information to impair its rivals’ ability to compete to sell and serve ads.”

Though Microsoft has not denied ownership of the documents, and one continues to bear a red “confidential” stamp in the upper right corner of each page, BetaNews tests discovered that the Microsoft Word-format documents published by the Times are not original documents with Microsoft’s corporate stamp. Instead, the Word template used bore the trademark of the New York Times Company, indicating that the contents may have been copied from original Microsoft documents into a separate template that doesn’t include Microsoft’s intellectual property.

Using a predominant metaphor with both words and pictures, Microsoft created a picture of a burgeoning Standard Oil-like monopoly on the flow of “fuel” through the Internet. This monopoly, the company argued, could be made possible through the acquisition of formerly neutral traffic monitoring and analytics tools produced by DoubleClick, into the exclusive purview of Google. Since DoubleClick’s tools monitor Web traffic and ad impressions on sites hosted by major services including Yahoo and MSN, Microsoft argued, those acquired tools would give Google an exclusive peek into the traffic of competitors’ portals such as Microsoft’s.

With that knowledge, the company went on, Google would be in a unique position to adjust its prices for ad inventory for the sites it serves, to compensate for changes it notes in its competitors’ traffic.

“Combining DoubleClick’s dominant (and previously neutral) ad-serving tools with Google’s dominant online ad networks,” read Microsoft’s position paper, “will give Google end-to-end control of the dominant, integrated pipeline for online advertising. Advertisers and publishers wishing to buy and sell non-search online advertising will have no real alternative for transacting online non-search advertising.

“As a result of its acquisition, Google will control access to an enormous share of publisher inventory,” it continued. “By denying or degrading other networks’ access to DoubleClick (and through it to the inventory), Google will make it virtually impossible for other networks to get sufficient scale to compete with Google.”

Prior to the merger announcement, DoubleClick had begun work on ad serving tools called DART for Publishers (DFP) and DART for Advertisers (DFA). Google was believed to have been building competitive tools (Microsoft argued that Google was definitely doing so), though now the DART products are likely to be the surviving tools for the combined company’s customers. That fact is especially of interest to the European Commission, whose laws give commissioners a way to forbid a merger between any two companies which previously had plans to directly compete against one another, whether or not they actually ended up doing so.

But contrary to reports, Microsoft’s citations of US case law and precedent indicate the documents the Times revealed was probably only for the eyes of FTC commissioners. Nonetheless, the company argued, the merger would give Google a means to expand what it characterized as its existing exclusionary practices, by creating an environment where only one tool is available for customers to produce campaigns whose formats are supported by the entire Internet.

Forcing customers to use a single format, Microsoft argued, is an exclusionary practice that is harmful to competition, and thus should be prevented through government intervention.

In the event the merger does go through, another Microsoft position paper released by the Times suggests the combined entity be compelled, presumably by law, to adopt certain “open access” principles that mandate customers be able to use DART tools for competitors’ ad networks as well as Google’s. “Under this remedy,” Microsoft argued, “Google would be required to allow third party ad networks such as DrivePM or ValueClick non-discriminatory access to the dominant DFP user interface and to ensure that competing ad networks and other intermediaries have an equal opportunity to compete with its dominant AdSense network for remnant inventory.”

Another alternative would be to force the combined entity to divest itself of DoubleClick’s DART tools portfolio — which Google itself had previously described as among the greater prizes to be acquired through this merger — perhaps through the sale of the software to “an independent and viable purchaser.” Microsoft made no suggestions as to its identity.

Perhaps a more unprecedented alternative proposed by Microsoft would be the erection of some sort of firewall network throughout the Internet, whose express purpose would be “so that the Google commercial organization cannot see or use competitively sensitive flowing through DoubleClick’s ad-serving tools.” Again, the company made no suggestions as to who would be responsible for such a network.

The Federal Trade Commission cleared the merger of Google and DoubleClick last week, though Google has indicated it will wait for final approval from the European Commission before proceeding.

The merger should be considered inappropriate, unnecessary and dissolved.

Compliments of BetaNews

http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsofts_failed_case_against_Google_DoubleClick_revealed/1198783635 

Along with the additional clientele, DoubleClick has also launched the DART Adapt Revenue Module, which optimizes ad performance by displaying the highest paying ads first to the users that will be most likely to respond.

“We designed DART Adapt to enable publishers to improve campaign performance for their premium advertisers while generating more revenue from their ad inventory,” said Brad Bender, DoubleClick’s VP of optimization solutions in a statement. The DART Adapt Revenue Model complements the DART Adapt Performance Module which launched in April of 2006 to help advertisers maximize campaign performance.

“The two modules that make up DART Adapt — Performance and Revenue — work in parallel to match the highest revenue-generating ad with the most appropriate audience,” added Bender. Both modules pave the way for a larger suite of services that DoubleClick will roll out in 2007.

Currently, the DART Adapt network has powered more than 1,000 campaigns. About.com has been testing the pre-release version since February 2005 and has so far used it to serve nearly two-billion impressions to the tune of increased clicks and ad-serving efficiency.

“DoubleClick’s centralized ad serving capability allows us to streamline ad delivery across our entire network,” said David Schmidt, Ecast’s senior director of product marketing in a statement. “Now we can provide real-time data on geographical performance, location performance or even types of music chosen. This will help advertisers to better understand, and even alter their campaigns in real-time, in order to maximize success.”

Ecast’s machines are connected to a central database that contains one of the largest music collections in the music jukebox industry. DART will let the system’s advertisers target ads by venue, geography, types of music that have been browsed for or played. It will also let advertisers run interactive, simultaneous and overlapping campaigns both online and offline.

DoubleClick is no stranger to appliance-based advertising, according to product director Rany Ng, and powers advertising on everything from “blood pressure machines to gas pumps.”

The DART system is currently being installed on the Ecast network, and has a network-wide launch date set for January 2007.

The in-stream tracking is compliant with IAB industry standards, since it’s based on the existing DART ad server technology. TV Guide, National Geographic and twelve other companies participated in the beta test of the new system.

“The popularity of video is exploding and publishers need a reliable system for trafficking, targeting, forecasting and reporting on this valuable inventory,” said Ari Paparo, DoubleClick’s vice president of rich media in a statement. “DART Motif for In-Stream is an exciting and innovative extension of the DART for Publishers platform that will help publishers go beyond pre-roll to create innovative, engaging environments for users, while offering agencies, advertisers, and marketers the trusted metrics that justify spending on this new medium.”

DART Motif for In-Stream was created for advertisers used to working with television advertising, and it supports TV- industry standard Ad-ID codes. The new system also supports video ad roadblocking, video syncing between multiple banners on a page, and interactive elements like clickable zones and expanding rollovers.

With the new solution, publishers avoid complex workarounds to incorporate rich media ads into entertainment, gaming, video, and other Flash content. It is fully integrated with DoubleClick’s DART for Publishers ad management solution, thus allowing publishers’ ads to run seamlessly in the Flash environment while still utilizing DFP’s targeting and inventory management capabilities.

DART Motif for Flash-in-Flash integrates into any Flash video player, allowing publishers to easily insert pre- or post-roll advertising into their video content streams. Rich media publishers can also take advantage of interactive ad functionality because the solution is based on DART Motif.

“DART Motif for Flash-in-Flash is a great example of innovation delivering real benefits to publishers of Flash content,” said Ari Paparo, V P of Rich Media Product Management at DoubleClick. “This solution also crucially helps publishers meet the needs of advertisers and agencies by providing robust reporting and allowing them to push the envelope on advertiser-specific custom programs.”

Napster and iVillage are two sites currently featuring ads implemented with DART Motif for Flash-in-Flash to introduce engaging advertisements.

With Spotlight Tag Bidding, DoubleClick hopes to optimize ROI in paid search campaigns, by allowing multi-product vendors, including those in travel, retail and financial services, to optimize search marketing by tracking category and even individual product profit margins. This in turn replaces tracking bid strategies at the generic keyword level.

“Spotlight Tag Bidding provides our search marketing clients a much clearer perspective into which of their products are converting to profit based on paid searches. By indicating which products are performing, clients are able to more accurately — and profitably — optimize keywords and bids, and manage their overall online marketing campaign,” said Dave Fall, VP of Search Marketing Product Management at DoubleClick, in a statement. “This approach to bid management is unique to DART Search, and allows clients to fully take advantage of the power of search marketing.”

“DART Search saves time, reduces complexity and enables customers to make better decisions and increase their ROI on search marketing campaigns,” said David Rosenblatt, CEO, DoubleClick, in a press statement. “In addition, its integration with DART for Advertisers, including consolidated reporting capabilities, gives clients a comprehensive view of their total digital advertising investment.”

Among the features included in the new DART Search are:
• A self-service technology with a centralized, automated workflow that simultaneously manages keywords and bids across multiple search engines
• Efficient and flexible keyword management that enables fast bulk uploading to search engines and provides customers with numerous ways to manage and track keyword performance.
• A sophisticated bid engine that reduces guesswork, saves time and money and can generate more revenue by automatically adjusting keyword bids to meet customers’ specific business goals
• Highly accurate results integrated into DART for Advertisers (DFA) reporting, offering the ability to compare and optimize paid search results with display, rich media and sponsorship ad campaigns in one place

With DART Search, DoubleClick’s aim with DART is to provide an advantageous tool in terms of accuracy, scalability, customer support and search engine relations.