Google Has a Chink in Its Ad Armor

Google’s advertising empire has two parts. About 70 percent of Alphabet’s total revenue last year came from the ads that the company sells on its own digital properties, including Google web search pages, YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps and more.
The rest of Google’s advertising revenue comes from the company’s role as a middleman for ads all over the web and mobile devices.
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What Google calls its “network” business is lagging behind the incredible growth of Google’s ad sales on its own digital hangouts. Revenue from the ad network rose 4 percent in 2016, while ad sales on Google's websites and apps rose 22 percent. The slower growth of Google's ad network means it is accounting for a smaller and smaller share of the company's total sales. In the fourth quarter of 2016, Google's advertising network generated 17 percent of Alphabet's total revenue, down from 22 percent three years earlier.
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If search, YouTube, Google Maps and other company properties fade in popularity, then Google will have fewer digital billboard spots to apply its advertising prowess.
https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-01-27/google-s-high-powered-ad-juggernaut-has-a-weak-spot

Martin Sorrell says WPP will spend $5 billion with Google this year — and they're better to deal with than Facebook

WPP will spend at least $5 billion (£4.1 billion) of its clients money on Google ads this year, the advertising agency holding company's CEO Sir Martin Sorrell said on its third-quarter earnings call on Monday.
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As for Facebook — where WPP spent $1 billion (£830 million) in 2015 — the relationship isn't quite as good.
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Unilever CMO Keith Weed has called on digital media companies, including Facebook, to provide what he calls the "3Vs" — viewability, verification, and value — to prove they are being transparent about the success of ad campaigns on their platforms. 
http://www.businessinsider.com/wpp-google-spend-5-billion-relationship-better-than-facebook-2016-10?r=US&IR=T&IR=T