Google’s new ad tool: Digital advertisers keep fingers crossed

Amidst the continuing debate over privacy, Google recently launched a sleek new “My Ad Center” that allows users to dictate which brands and topics they like and the amount of personalization they are comfortable with for their ad customization.

These personalization options can be accessed from within the new My Ad Center experience or directly within the ad itself. The feature gives users control over the algorithm, which industry experts say is a good move from the tech giant to address privacy concerns.

However, advertisers are curious about the impact of the tool on digital advertising.

Abbhishek Chadha – Sr. VP (North & East) at Interactive Avenues - A Reprise Network Company, says, “The ‘My Ad Center’ looks like a strong move from Google on the entire privacy control battle. With the choice given to the users to choose the brands/topics most pertinent to them, this is going to enhance their experience. Also, with the 3P cookies deprecating this is going to give critical feedback on the users.”

“The biggest change will be the expanded controls that will have transparency features revealing which brands have paid for the ad, and what category has Google bucketed them to target as – with an option given to change those settings, again enhancing 1P data on the user,” Chadha noted.

There could be a small percentage of users who are very secure about their data and will completely disable the tool, he added. “The overall impact for advertisers, in the long run, is going to be net positive only, with more personalization, better ad experiences, and higher ROI.”

Sharing a different perspective, Ahmed Aftab Naqvi, Global CEO & Co-founder, GOZOOP Group, said: “There will be some difficulty in scaling up again to current levels because of the cookie and mobile-based identifiers. However, in cases where consumers themselves mention the preferences of brand and category, the new system will evolve and be better suited towards KPI delivery.”

The new ad centre feature is a double-edged sword for advertisers, says Rahul Vengalil, Executive Director of Everest Brands Solution, a Rediffusion group.

“Google has given the option to control the kind of ads and the sensitivity around the content to the consumers. The first major challenge that I see is people customizing the same. Most consumers work in a binary fashion. Either accept or deny. Only the evolved customers will excitedly customize,” he explains.

“The other major issue that I see is that different consumers would need different brands/solutions at different points in time. Let's take the example of someone who is interested in buying a car. Today, this person might choose to be shown car ads. Once he/she purchases the car, this category becomes irrelevant for at least for the next 5 yrs. This means that the person should again change the setting either at ad centre or when a new ad is shown. This, for a layman, is too cumbersome,” Vengalil further said.

If this happens, then from an advertisers’ point of view, there is going to be an increase in effectiveness of ads in the short term. But for high involvement goods like automobile, real estate or white goods, there could be a reduction in engagement in the long term, he added.

“Now, let's consider the cost. In the event everyone goes for this option, then the unit cost will definitely go up as the universe is going to shrink. The quantum of this increase would be directly proportional to the reduction in the universe. The intent is bang on, but I do not know how many hurdles consumers, brands and Google are going to have on this account,” Vengalil cautioned.

Inflation likely in Google's ad rates

There will definitely be inflation in rates until the new system matches up to the demand, as is in the case of every RTB platform, Naqvi says.

The importance of brands going to other sources to obtain 1st party and 2nd party data will become a more followed practice, he added.

As for Rohan Mehta, CEO, Kinnect, an FCB Ulka Group company, the tool is not something altogether new. People could choose earlier as well the ads they like to receive and what they don’t.

“Only thing is they have a much better dashboard now to select the ads they like. On the brands’ side, CPMs are likely to go up and eventually deeper matrices such as CTR and efficacy will also go up. With more informed customers, the outcome of the ad will be better,” Mehta added.

However, it's too early to say if the ad rates will go up owing to these changes, the Kinnect CEO asserted.