Google launches ads measurement system for cross-device campaigns on YouTube, DoubleClick, GDN

The ads measurement system that Google initially created for analyzing YouTube campaigns now includes data from the Google Display Network and DoubleClick. Google announced the expansion and the beta release of Ads Data Hub this week.

The expanded scope of the cloud-based system further underscores the industry’s shift from relying on cookies to user and device IDs for tracking and reporting on ad performance as mobile usage has surpassed that of desktop. Ads Data Hub is designed to help advertisers measure the value of their campaigns as ads are distributed over an ever-expanding number of devices. Omnicom Media Group signed on as an early test partner.

Ads Data Hub offers anonymized cross-device impression-level data from campaigns running on YouTube, Google Display Network and DoubleClick Ad Exchange. Marketers can hook in CRM, DMP or other marketing databases into the system to analyze campaign impact on the customer journey.

Ads Data Hub runs in Google’s data warehouse, BigQuery. Marketers cannot extract any of the impression-level data from Ads Data Hub; Google says that’s for privacy reasons. Advertisers can give third-party measurement vendors including comScore, DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science, Moat and Nielsen access to the system. However, those vendors must still rely on Google’s own data for measurement, long a pain point for advertisers who have been pushing Google (and Facebook) to lower their walls and support independent tracking for measurement and verification.

Currently, the Ads Data Hub only supports analysis, but Google says it will eventually enable advertisers to “act on the insights they get from Ads Data Hub and buy media with greater precision.”