Google Ad Manager vs. PubMatic

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Ad Manager
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Google Ad Manager is a platform for publishers that combines the former DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange products.N/A
PubMatic
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
PubMatic is an ad serving and retargeting solution. This platform is designed to serve as a control panel that provides users with a single view into their advertiser relationships across every screen, channel and format. The vendor says through workflow automation, real-time analytics and yield management, they are able to enable users to make smarter, faster decisions that drive revenue and streamline operations.N/A
Pricing
Google Ad ManagerPubMatic
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google Ad ManagerPubMatic
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
Google Ad ManagerPubMatic
Top Pros

No answers on this topic

Top Cons
Features
Google Ad ManagerPubMatic
Ad Network Integration
Comparison of Ad Network Integration features of Product A and Product B
Google Ad Manager
7.6
24 Ratings
3% above category average
PubMatic
-
Ratings
Data Transfer7.524 Ratings00 Ratings
DSP integration7.719 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad Campaigns
Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Product A and Product B
Google Ad Manager
8.7
33 Ratings
11% above category average
PubMatic
-
Ratings
Ad campaign creation8.733 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad deployment8.433 Ratings00 Ratings
Display advertising8.632 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad display and retargeting segmentation8.731 Ratings00 Ratings
Sequence targeting8.924 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Google Ad Manager
8.3
33 Ratings
7% above category average
PubMatic
-
Ratings
Ad dashboards8.931 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad performance reports8.533 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad conversion tracking8.932 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad attribution reporting7.829 Ratings00 Ratings
Cross-channel ad management8.226 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad forecasting and optimization7.729 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Google Ad ManagerPubMatic
Small Businesses
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Score 8.8 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 8.0 out of 10
The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk
Score 8.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Score 8.8 out of 10
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Score 8.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Google Ad ManagerPubMatic
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(33 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.0
(1 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google Ad ManagerPubMatic
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.
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PubMatic
Do not go with PubMatic -- every aspect of their company needs to improve and be tested on a higher scale for companies and organizations to be happy with their work. They need to listen to what clients are telling them to be able to improve their day to day functions.
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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.
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PubMatic
No answers on this topic
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.
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PubMatic
  • Communication is key and PubMatic really needs to improve the way they speak to clients and their response time on emails and the time lapse between communication. Turn around time needs to improve. Simple requests like forecasting should not take weeks to turn around.
  • Understanding their product before making it available to a huge organization. Don't use companies as guinea pigs when the product isn't even working. Understand what your client expects from you from the very beginning.
  • Don't place blame where blame isn't warranted.
  • Knowing the terminology you're speaking about well before you have a conference call.
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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
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PubMatic
We have already cancelled.
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Usability
Google
Love the product and how the GUI is as it is user friendly. When working with the product it is better to have some knowledge of what ad's you want to deploy where so that it is easier to use and move forward.
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PubMatic
No answers on this topic
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.
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PubMatic
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Google
The main advantage of Google Ad Manager over The Trade Desk is based on the fact that Google Ad Manager has better data to identify a user on any device as it has more data and the user is signed in over Google Ad Manager´s set of properties. That is why results on Google Ad Manager´s platform are better as The Trade Desk needs to develop a unified id solution that is more complex and less performing that Google Ad Manager's data.
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PubMatic
We regret using PubMatic and are happy with our choice to move forward onto a better company.
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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.
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PubMatic
  • Increased problem areas
  • Decreased productivity.
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ScreenShots