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Adsense for Mobile: Google proves shy as MySpace moves ahead

MySpace has stolen a huge march on Google in the mobile advertising arena, striking a deal with Millennial Media to sell adverts aimed at mobile phone and PDA users.

It seems this may be because Google is finding itself in a nasty cleft stick, with privacy groups on one side, and Government "data retention" legislation on the other.

An excellent example of the problem was highlighted in Adario Strange's blog recently, where the company was quoted responding to an EU working group:

After considering the Working Party's concerns, we are announcing a new policy: to anonymize our search server logs after 18 months, rather than the previously-established period of 18 to 24 months. We believe that we can still address our legitimate interests in security, innovation and anti-fraud efforts with this shorter period. However, we must point out that future data retention laws may obligate us to raise the retention period to 24 months.

The official policy on privacy, as seen from within Governments, is mainly focused on monitoring undesirable behaviour - typically, crime, terrorism. But while Google's track record in resisting such pressures to store and retain personal browing data is good, it seems privacy activists don't see Government as the villain: they blame Google.

Intriguingly, more than a week after Google announced Adsense for Mobile in North America, there's still no mention of this on the UK web site.

Equally surprising is the fact that MySpace actually uses Google to sell its advertising on normal PC web sites, but ignored Adsense for Mobile.

Normally, Myspace's mobile web site costs money to watch. AT&T mobile subscribers can add the site for $2.00 a month, and Helio claims well over half its mobile users have signed up, too. But the new version will be free - and sponsored by two adverts: one banner, one text. It will look just like a Google Adsense spot - but it won't be from Google.

This isn't a big deal - or not yet, according to Rachel Rosmarin at Forbes:  

Mobile revenue isn't likely to contribute much to MySpace's bottom line in the near future. All of MySpace adds only about $40 million in sales per month to New Corp., according to Pali Research analyst Richard Greenfield. But he estimates that figure could double over the next year as MySpace expands its other advertising initiatives, including targeting ads to specific demographic groups.

Meanwhile, rival (and potential takeover victim, Doubleclick, has announced its own mobile strategy. Much of the comment on the Google bid for that has discussed privacy as an issue; for example, as Nancy Gohring wrote:

Google announced in April its intention to buy DoubleClick for $3.1 billion. However, the US Federal Trade Commission and a US House of Representatives subcommittee are investigating the planned acquisition. Privacy groups and Google competitors including Microsoft and Yahoo have raised concerns about the effects of such a merger on competition and user privacy.

Google's low mobile profile isn't altogether a mystery: it's the way it's handling it which makes a low profile inevitable. For example, the Adsense release was published September 17 - but only on the dot-com version of Google for North America. And the reason it's still low profile seems to be based on Google's determination to stay on the right side of the privacy debate.

That concern isn't unfounded. Here's one response to the mobile version of Adsense:

WHAT a cheek. Without so much as asking me, or you, whether it's what we want, Google has launched what it calls AdSense for Mobile, a "service for placing contextual ads with mobile web content".

In the UK, the Adsense Mobile news still hasn't broken, officially.

Admittedly, this may be due to the traditionally casual approach of the local PR office to media outlets, rather than policy. Checking the Google database, you will find that the latest information "About Google" on Google's local web site is way out of date - there's nothing new there back to August 22, more than a month ago - and that refers to Google Earth which is "introducing sky" - a map of the heavens.

Since then, the American list of "announcements" - including press releases (marked with an asterisk) has included plenty of stuff - little of it "sensitive" at all - which appears to be on its way across the Atlantic by surface mail:

September 18, 2007
Google AdWords Introduces Google Gadget Ads, a New Interactive Ad Format*

September 17, 2007
Collaboration in the Cloud Gets Richer with Presentations Added to Google Docs

September 17, 2007
Google AdSense for Mobile unlocks the potential of the mobile advertising market

September 12, 2007
Google.org launches $10 million request for investment proposals to advance sustainable transportation solutions 

September 06, 2007
New Features from Google Book Search Help Readers Organize and Find Books

August 28, 2007
George Reyes To Retire As Google CFO*

August 28, 2007
CNN.com Inks Multi-Year Advertising Agreement with Google*

August 27, 2007
Google to Present at the Citigroup Technology Conference*

We've asked what might be happening with Mobile Adsense in the UK. If we get an answer, we'll certainly pass it on...