Run for the hills, Yahoo!
Google
Google may have telegraphed its display dreams when it snapped up DoubleClick in a $3.1 billion deal, but now it's going all in. Big Goo just launched the DoubleClick Ad Exchange and incorporated DoubleClick into its lucrative AdWords platform.
Paid search has been Google's wealth builder, as hundreds of thousands of advertisers crank out brief text ads and bid on relevant keywords for exposure. Google is now making it easier for those same sponsors to reach the masses with graphical ads, too.
Advertisers want leads, and smaller sponsors may lack the graphic design skills to build out appealing display ads. Here is where Google's recently launched Display Ad Builder comes in, allowing AdWords customers to quickly customize gallery templates and begin advertising throughout Google's homegrown sites and third-party partners.
From Google's own YouTube to News Corp.'s
This move was inevitable -- and it's hard to imagine Google not being the dominant player in this space in a couple of years.