DoubleClick Ad Planner by Google

About the Ad Planner

Double Click Ad Planner by Google (formerly known as Google Ad Planner) was launched in 2008, and renamed in February 2010, as a tool for 'media planners'. It helps locate the top sites for a specific keyword, region and/or language et cetera, to help advertisers to find their target audience, and to purchase ads.

"DoubleClick Ad Planner helps you identify websites that are likely to attract your target audience. With DoubleClick Ad Planner, you specify criteria (such as geography, searched keywords, demographics, and language) to create a list of sites. You can then review traffic, reach, and other key data for each site to help you make informed decisions about where you might advertise."
Source: http://www.google.com/support/adplanner/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=96362 (accessed 6 July 2011).

The ad planner makes use of the following Google data:

Google Analytics data that is "anonymized, aggregated and opt-in" is used to "calibrate macro-level insights into website traffic patterns, site visitation across geographies, and related websites and searches." Source: http://www.google.com/support/adplanner/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=96370

Google AdSense data "to determine:
- Which sites support Google AdSense;
- Ad specifications on a Google AdSense site;
- The approximate volume of impressions available on a Google AdSense site;
- Aggregated Google AdSense log data to help train our traffic models."
Source: http://www.google.com/support/adplanner/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=98403

Google Toolbar data, which is "anonymized, aggregated, opt-in" to get:
- PageRank information
- anonymous individual data, which is stated to be not shared on an individual level, but compared in aggregate.
Source: http://www.google.com/support/adplanner/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=178337

Why it works for Iranians

In the 'search audience' section, the Ad Planner does not list Iran as geographical region (figure 1), but does have an option to filter on the Persian language (figure 2). The tool then serves a list of 1,000 top sites for a Persian-language audience.

Figure 1: Country list DoubleClick Ad Planner Figure 2: Language list in DoubleClick Ad Planner

Footnote: Categories and Site Profile

One of the drawbacks of working with the tool is that the categories it lists for the websites are rarely correct. The automated processes that generate these categories check content and assign categories, outputting one per website (figure 3a). When hovering over the single category, a short list of categories is served for more 'complex' websites (figure 3b). To make the categories more accurate, website "publishers" are invited to update their website's information, as are Ad Planner users to report incorrect categories.

Figure 3a: A site and its category in the DoucleClick Ad Planner's result list.

Figure 3b: Hovering over the single category listed offers multiple categories (in the case of a 'complex' site).

The website profile offers more information per website, including traffic of the website and demographic information of its audience (figure 3c).

Figure 3c: Site Profile for blogfa.com, source: DoubleClick Ad Planner (accessed 11 July 2011).

Characterization of output

The Ad Planner outputs a list of the top 1000 sites for a specific audience, in this case 'Persian'. The fields it serves by default are: placement information (Placement, type, category, etc.), audience (comp. index, reach, UV [users]), country (UV, PV), gdn (see figure 4and glossary below).

Figure 4: DoubleClick Ad Planner default output (export csv screen at https://www.google.com/adplanner/#audienceSearch)

Glossary:
- Category: General description of website's theme (determined by automated systems)
- Comp index: Score showing how concentrated your audience is on a site relative to users in your defined country ( example) *
- Reach: Estimated percent of users from your defined country on a site *
- Unique visitors (users): Estimated number of users worldwide or from your defined country that you can reach on a specific site
- Page views: Number of times pages have been accessed by users within your defined country
- Ad specs: Supported ad sizes and formats on a site
- Imp/day: Number of impressions per day on the Google display network

Each website also has a website 'profile', that offers more information about the traffic and audience of the website (figure 3c).

Shared and Unique Results

Shared results: Amongst the URLs that were common across 5 platforms (including Google AdPlanner), there was a mix of news, entertainment, sport websites. Most of the news websites were based in Iran, meaning that they are in some way controlled by the government as they have to abide by the rules and regulations of the Islamic State in order not to be shut down. Except for Facebook and BBC.co.uk (which was probably being used as a way into BBC Persian), and two basic file sharing sites, all of the websites were in Persian. Only one blog was common across the lists (including Google Ad Planner), which was a general blog about science, technology and the arts.

Unique results: Nearly all of the unique websites for Google AdPlanner are Persian-language blogs.