Google pushes into the online media planning business

 
The search engine operator Google has announced Google Ad Planner, a free service for collecting media data on the Internet. According to a report on Ftd.de, the internet giant is hoping that this will give a further boost to its online advertising business. Google Ad Planner compiles statistics on page views, dwell time and user demographic data for customers through direct access to the web server. This is in contrast to Nielsen or Comscore, which collect their usage data using representative control groups and surveys. According to Ftd.de, however, the latter measurement method has often been criticized for being too imprecise. The Swiss internet researcher Net-Metrix, for example, combines both approaches.
The competition is taking Google's announcement in stride. Details of the new measurement service are not yet known, Nielsen Online boss Susan Hickey told the New York Times. However, the company assumes that customers will continue to pay for well-researched data on the behavior of Internet users.
Another critical voice in the Wall Street Journal raised concerns about Google's lack of independence because the company offers analytics and online advertising at the same time. "From our point of view, the last thing we want is for the same company that receives our advertising money to also advise us on media planning," one advertising manager is quoted as saying.