AppNexus vs. Google Marketing Platform

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
AppNexus
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
AppNexus AppNexus offers online auction infrastructure and technology for data management, optimization, financial clearing and support for directly negotiated advertising campaigns. It integrates with advertising sources including Google's DoubleClick, Microsoft's AdECN, and aggregators.[3]N/A
Google Marketing Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Google Marketing Platform (a combination of former DoubleClick advertiser tools and Google Analytics 360 Suite) is a set of tools for marketers to manage their advertising campaigns. DoubleClick was acquired by Google in 2008. It focuses on uploading ads and reporting their performance and also provides forecasting tools to help predict future campaign needs. Bid optimization tools help manage pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns across search engines (e.g. Bing, Google, Yahoo!).N/A
Pricing
AppNexusGoogle Marketing Platform
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AppNexusGoogle Marketing Platform
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AppNexusGoogle Marketing Platform
Considered Both Products
AppNexus
Chose AppNexus
The TTD platform seems to have better CTV/OLV inventory, so that is typically preferred over AppNexus (APN). Usually, if clients have an internal desk, they will use TTD, which can often lead to us bidding against them, which is also another benefit of running campaigns within …
Chose AppNexus
Google Marketing Platform is the platform we used prior to AppNexus, while Google Marketing works innately with so many other platforms and does a wonderful job of streamlining everything we thought the vast features that AppNexus brings to the table would assist us better. …
Chose AppNexus
Appnexus is the only one that i have used but I don't see why I would use anything else. It fits all of my needs, has extra things that I never got a chance to use and I look forward to learning and playing more with the data tools. I also like knowing that our user data is …
Google Marketing Platform

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
AppNexusGoogle Marketing Platform
Ad Network Integration
Comparison of Ad Network Integration features of Product A and Product B
AppNexus
8.5
8 Ratings
14% above category average
Google Marketing Platform
9.5
28 Ratings
25% above category average
Data Transfer8.06 Ratings10.023 Ratings
DSP integration9.08 Ratings9.026 Ratings
Ad Campaigns
Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Product A and Product B
AppNexus
8.0
8 Ratings
2% above category average
Google Marketing Platform
7.9
32 Ratings
1% above category average
Ad campaign creation8.08 Ratings8.432 Ratings
Ad deployment9.07 Ratings8.432 Ratings
Display advertising7.07 Ratings8.029 Ratings
Ad display and retargeting segmentation8.07 Ratings7.730 Ratings
Sequence targeting8.07 Ratings7.023 Ratings
Ad Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
AppNexus
8.2
9 Ratings
6% above category average
Google Marketing Platform
7.2
32 Ratings
7% below category average
Ad dashboards9.09 Ratings6.730 Ratings
Ad performance reports7.09 Ratings7.332 Ratings
Ad conversion tracking8.08 Ratings7.331 Ratings
Ad attribution reporting8.08 Ratings7.030 Ratings
Cross-channel ad management9.08 Ratings7.325 Ratings
Ad forecasting and optimization8.08 Ratings7.524 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AppNexusGoogle Marketing Platform
Small Businesses
Google Ad Manager
Google Ad Manager
Score 8.6 out of 10
Google Ad Manager
Google Ad Manager
Score 8.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk
Score 8.1 out of 10
The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk
Score 8.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Score 8.9 out of 10
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AppNexusGoogle Marketing Platform
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(16 ratings)
7.4
(44 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
4.0
(6 ratings)
8.0
(13 ratings)
Usability
5.0
(2 ratings)
8.0
(2 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(4 ratings)
Online Training
2.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
5.0
(1 ratings)
6.0
(2 ratings)
Configurability
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
6.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
4.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AppNexusGoogle Marketing Platform
Likelihood to Recommend
AppNexus
Appnexus is specifically well suited for CTV campaigns. They have the full technology stack to help you scale campaigns in any format, whether you need a lot of volume in traditional formats like banners and interstitials or if you need high-impact formats like video and other alternatives. Appnexus has a very strong set of unique publishers which makes it a great DSP for branding campaigns.
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Google
I feel pretty neutral about Google Marketing Platform. For the longest time, my company wasn't using it because each of the features (Data Studio, Analytics, etc.) could be accessed separately. In fact, most of the time, I don't even go into Google Marketing Platform because it's easier to directly navigate to the individual platforms. There are very few features about GMP that can only be accessed from the GMP UI. The Integrations Center is probably the main feature I utilize from the GMP UI, which allows me to see a summary of the integrations I have in place across all my client properties and accounts.
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Pros
AppNexus
  • As per my experience they have strong support personnel. Solving the issues as and when required.
  • We can solve certain issues like campaign performance, inventory optimization and more with the help of AppNexus wiki. We get all the required information in the Wiki itself.
  • They have given the right platform to both buyers and sellers to workout and meet their digital marketing needs and goals.
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Google
  • Bringing together data from multiple channels and engines and allows you to visualize the data in an easy to use platform. This saves time from using multiple logins for the different platforms.
  • Auto bidding tools save time from manual bidding, as it allows you to set the specific terms around what levels you want to cap your CPCs at. You then let DoubleClick adjust your bids to gain the most conversions from the cheapest CPCs. This frees up time to do other in-depth analysis and strategy.
  • DoubleClick also has the ability to track conversions and clicks on any page using their floodlight tags. This is good for tracking certain actions on yours or a client's site and is especially good if they do not use any other tools, such as Google Analytics or Adobe, to track conversions and user actions on site. You can also use these in conjunction with the auto bidding tools.
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Cons
AppNexus
  • The platform is incredibly complex and requires a great deal of understanding of how the platform works that caught us by surprise.
  • The wiki is not enough and when we resorted to reaching out to AppNexus it was a nuisance of having several emails going back and forth.
  • No phone support is offered which would have made several things easier than exchanging confusing emails.
  • Video inventory is still not implemented.
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Google
  • The process for on-boarding new users can be difficult if they do not already have a Gmail or Gmail-linked account.
  • Difficult to troubleshoot technical issues (with the platform, with tags, etc.) because of the lack of customer support. Unclear if the agency has a dedicated team or individual to assist, and often have to deal with out-sourced support teams.
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Likelihood to Renew
AppNexus
I love almost everything about AppNexus because I feel like the user data is easy to track because of the identifiers, you can see which adverts got clicked and which were ignored. We can track the location of the ad on the page fold and this makes it so much easier for future campaigns. The only thing I don't like is that the data is only kept for a year, and I'd like it for a longer period of time
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Google
Due to its adapting behavior with industry ad formats and seamless integration with publishers and DSP's, I don't see myself moving away from DCM. As we see the display advertising is getting more programatic and automated due to the rise of DSP and concept of RTB, Double Click has evolved with new advanced best practices
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Usability
AppNexus
Because I think the interface is kind of confusing at the beginning and it confuses you a lot.
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Google
The Doubleclick interface is easy and simple to get a hang of. The options are slightly limited compared to other DSPs. But, for a simple campaign, this is a great DSP to move forward with. They have a ton of data and can plug into a lot of different partners
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Reliability and Availability
AppNexus
I've never had any problems with appnexus - the software is always available
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Google
No answers on this topic
Performance
AppNexus
Yes, everything works great in that sense
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Google
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
AppNexus
Because the support team does give you support, they take 24hrs to get back to you but once they open a ticket they focus on resolving the issue for you. My only problem is that you don't have a specific account representative assigned to you.
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Google
They do not have strong support team. It is tough to get answer when I need it. They always refer you to an online guide and not an actual person. If so, the person is based out of an offshore team in India and does not know the specific client goals .
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Online Training
AppNexus
Online training are not user friendly and not easy to understand
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Google
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
AppNexus
No answers on this topic
Google
I would highly recommend asking clients to provide 3PAS tags or use an internal 3PAS
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Alternatives Considered
AppNexus
The TTD platform seems to have better CTV/OLV inventory, so that is typically preferred over AppNexus (APN). Usually, if clients have an internal desk, they will use TTD, which can often lead to us bidding against them, which is also another benefit of running campaigns within AppNexus (APN). Google DSP is typically used to increase the scale for display and build larger re-messaging pools.
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Google
Marin takes a lot more time for everything, mainly for the campaigns setup. This also leads to many mistakes, which impact the performance. I've used Marin on a couple of previous clients and we've had many problems with it, mainly with correct conversion tracking and account optimizations. Besides, Marin is behind all the new features available on AdWords, which makes the tracking also not very flexible.
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Scalability
AppNexus
Because it's a great DSP but not the best
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Google
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
AppNexus
  • The 1 USD audit fee makes it very hard to A/B test creatives and improve performance, hurting ROI.
  • We have been able to reach some users that we weren't able to get before, increasing spending, which is good for ROI.
  • We can run campaigns on TV, which is a big boost for the business, and very ROI positive.
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Google
  • DS3 has improved ROI considerably due to its ability to make the work of a team of digital marketers to go further and improving internal efficiency.
  • There is a notable improvement in account performance for those integrated with DoubleClick as opposed to not, with better tracking, new bid strategy options, and a more responsive interface.
  • The additional fee on top of media spend is a considerable expense for a large advertiser, but the necessity of a product/solution such as this means that there is always likely to be some comparative cost.
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