Google Brings 300,000-plus AdMob Apps to AdWords

Facebook isn’t the only company with mobile ad news this week. Two years after closing its $750 million acquisition of mobile ad network AdMob, Google is connecting the company’s more than 1 million AdWords advertisers with the more than 350 million mobile devices in the AdMob network.

Now advertisers can run campaigns across AdMob’s 300,000-plus mobile apps through AdWords with the option to buy AdMob inventory separately or bundled with their desktop campaigns. AdMob dialed up more than one billion ad requests across 23 countries last month, according to Google, and the AdWords expansion is expected to drive up mobile inventory demand and mobile CPCs.

Coupled with Thursday’s announcement, Google beefed up its mobile ad targeting capabilities. In addition to targeting users by a specific app or app category within the Google Play Store or iTunes App Store, AdWords advertisers can now aim mobile campaigns—within AdMob or otherwise—at specific devices, such as an HTC One X smartphone or Samsung Galaxy Tab, or at a specific manufacturer like Apple. They can also target campaigns by mobile operating system, carrier and whether a device is connected to Wi-Fi.

“This is the latest chapter in our ongoing efforts not only to bring AdMob’s and Google’s tools together, but also to mobilize all of our ads products and services,” Jonathan Alferness, Google’s director of product management for mobile, said in a company blog post. Previous chapters include last year’s addition of AdMob inventory to the DoubleClick Ad Exchange, the February switch to AdWords-style auctions for AdMob CPC campaigns and last month’s move to let DoubleClick advertisers run static and rich-media campaigns within AdMob.

Connecting ad platforms has been a focal point for Google this week. On Tuesday the company announced an end-to-end display ad platform DoubleClick Digital Marketing that pulled together five products into one suite.