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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Ad Manager

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Ad Manager is a platform for publishers that combines the former DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange products.N/A

    Smaato

    Score7 out of 10
    N/ASmaato is a supply-side publisher platform (SSP) from the Verve Group since the 2021 acquisition.N/A
    Pricing
    Google Ad ManagerSmaato
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google Ad ManagerSmaato
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google Ad ManagerSmaato
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    No answer on this topic
    Verve Group
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    10 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    9 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    10 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    86%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    88%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Google Ad ManagerSmaato
    Ad Network Integration
    Comparison of Ad Network Integration features of Google Ad Manager and Smaato
    Feature
    Google Ad Manager
    7.6
    24 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Smaato
    -
    Ratings
    Data Transfer7.524 Ratings00 Ratings
    DSP integration7.719 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad Campaigns
    Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Google Ad Manager and Smaato
    Feature
    Google Ad Manager
    7.4
    35 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Smaato
    -
    Ratings
    Ad campaign creation9.235 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad deployment8.135 Ratings00 Ratings
    Display advertising7.234 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad display and retargeting segmentation7.233 Ratings00 Ratings
    Sequence targeting5.025 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Google Ad Manager and Smaato
    Feature
    Google Ad Manager
    6.9
    34 Ratings
    11% below category average
    Smaato
    -
    Ratings
    Ad dashboards5.032 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad performance reports7.034 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad conversion tracking7.033 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad attribution reporting7.030 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cross-channel ad management8.126 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad forecasting and optimization7.030 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google Ad ManagerSmaato
    Small Businesses
    AdRoll
    Score3.7 out of 10
    AdRoll
    Score3.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Google Campaign Manager 360
    Score9 out of 10
    Google Campaign Manager 360
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Adobe Advertising Cloud
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Adobe Advertising Cloud
    Score8.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google Ad ManagerSmaato
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (35 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google Ad ManagerSmaato
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    Google Ads Manager is great if you need major visibility on a large ad network rather than targeting one specific website, app or platform. Let's be real here if you have any business that is done online (sell products, generate leads, etc) you pretty much have to be on Google. I've tried other advertising solutions including competitor search engines, sponsored content solutions, social media advertising, and none really compare to the traffic you can get that is keyword-driven, meaning a user is actually demonstrating interest in whatever you sell or offer.
    Incentivized
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    Verve Group
    Smaato is very well suited for user acquisition and retargeting companies. Their overlap in terms of audiences and publishers with other exchanges is very limited, which makes it a great alternative when you need to scale a campaign and want to maintain your frequency cap. They work very well in branding campaigns as well as performance campaigns.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Google
    • Interface. You can understand how to build the ads very easily. When you first begin, and throughout the process, there are little help icons which explain what you need to understand.
    • Pricing. By this, I mean the ability to change it at any time. You can select a variable rate, or you can preset it. Either way, you can change how much you spend every second if you'd like. This makes it easier to control your budget if you need to make emergency purchases and don't have much space in your budget.
    • Always growing. They are always announcing something new. Always growing and always trying to update.
    Incentivized
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    Verve Group
    • Fill - the ad requests we send to Smaato have seen a great requests-to-impression ration.
    • Revenue - We've seen a lift in overall revenue thanks to the high CPM bids we get from Smaato.
    • Payments are always on time and they have a responsive financial team that is helpful in answering any questions.
    • Customer service - They are very fast to respond to any issues. The set up was streamlined thanks to their professional customer service.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Google
    • Bumper Machine - While this is still in beta, there is a lot of room for improvement for the machine to pick proper clips. I'm sure that will come in time though.
    • Inclusion of a Home Page Button - This is a simple request, truly, but one that bothers me everyday. I have a campaign home button, but it's not accessible unless you go back to the beginning of the platform. If the 'home' button was static, I'd be able to go to my preferred view with one click instead of having to loop around, as there isn't a trustworthy 'back button' option either.
    • Display - This is a big one. I have a love/hate relationship with display campaigns and algorithms. I have seen where they can perform [strongly] but also be massive budget bleeds with little ROI. It's not very industry specific either so I'm hoping to gain more consistency and trust with the future of the display algorithm.
    Incentivized
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    Verve Group
    • Inventory can be a bit pricey in competitive markets like the US.
    • Reporting dashboard is limited, needs work.
    • They don't offer a lof of transparency about margins over media cost.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    I think it's useful for our team and we rely on it to improve our business. It is within our budget also. Although we still will need an approval from the upper-level management team, I don't see any problem with that
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Verve Group
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Google
    As I have said, if you want all the Google functionality and can use all of the features that Google offers on a dashboard, it's a great choice. But, I'm not a fan because I think the interface could be redesigned to be more user-friendly - make it color-coded with different options - it just feels now like you can get all, but make it easier for the end designer to use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Verve Group
    Smaato has a UI where you can control your line items on the traffic you want to receive. That is a key unique selling point that other SSPs don't offer. Most of the items that you will need like reporting can be done on a self serve manner and that is a big plus, specifically for changes that need to happen really fast and you don't need to deal with account managers that may take some time to answer emails.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Google
    I could say a lot about this topic. As an agency, we get a new [representative] to talk to almost every quarter to go over select accounts and the campaigns within. Most of the time, these [educated representatives], don't provide any new feedback, or I just simply [disagree] with their approach. This is not all the time however. I have learned a lot from a rare few, [individuals] that have given me new strategies and access to betas early on. The other side of support, is the [overseas support platform]. [It] is usually not very helpful, but you can [emphasize] issues and they can research [them]. The Google Tag Implementation team is pristine though. When you need them, you need to set an appointment, which is usually 2 weeks out; they are so over-my-head intelligent, I've never had a bad experience with them and whenever I needed them for a fix, they solved it [within] the first call.
    Incentivized
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    Verve Group
    Smaato's account management team is very professional. They are quite fast in terms of customer support, which is very helpful. One item that stands out is that they are willing to understand what you need for each campaign and what is the best way to move forward. They don't just jump quickly into trying to upsell more of Smaato's products (audiences, data) like other SSPs do.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    I personally liked it because of the complex features available. Knowing that this comes from Google, I did not have second thoughts - Comes from an Top tier brand. There were other products in the market, however, I chose to stick to this due to the following reasons, Customer support Self help articles
    Incentivized
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    Verve Group
    With over 20 demand partners in our stack, Smaato is in the top 5
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Google
    • It had a massively positive impact for us, allowing us to generate revenue from ad space on our website.
    • Being able to custom quote ad space on our site, instead of relying on AdSense allowed us to increase our monthly ad revenue as well.
    • Providing reliable data to advertisers regarding impressions and CTRs helped create repeat-customers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Verve Group
    • Increased overall revenue
    • Strong demand pool
    • Easy reporting
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots