Search giant Google Inc.’s (GOOGL) online advertisement service for publishers, DoubleClick, suffered an outage for nearly two hours due to a software glitch. The outage affected around 55,000 websites globally including USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and BBC.com. YouTube and Google’s AdSense platform were also impacted.
This outage however did not last long. Internet users meanwhile had an ad free experience while surfing as the spaces where ads are usually displayed remained blank. This ad server failure cost publishers millions in ad revenues, reflecting the dependence of publishers on Google’s ad platform. The reason behind the outage was not disclosed.
This isn’t the first time Google had problems with DoubleClick. Earlier, in September, the network was abused for malvertising attacks
DoubleClick, founded in 1996, was acquired by Google for $3.1 billion in 2007. The acquisition helped it secure entry into the promising business of display advertising.
Google generates revenues primarily from the sale of advertising space on its online properties. It has therefore focused on protecting and growing its position in the search market through continued innovation and quality improvements. This focus has ensured that it remains the dominant player in search even after the mobile revolution.
Google’s third-quarter fiscal 2014 revenues of $16.52 billion were up 3.6% sequentially and 20.1% yearoveryear, driven by stronger revenues from advertising on Google websites. Total advertising revenues increased 2.2%.
The glitch however is not great news for the search giant as rivals Facebook (FB) and Yahoo (YHOO) are fighting to gain market share.
Google shares currently hold a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Akamai Technologies, Inc. (AKAM), carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), is a better-ranked stock from the same sector and therefore worth considering.
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