• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 3, 2010

Google took another step Wednesday toward creating a massive mobile ad network by feeding AdMob with Google AdSense ads. When the mobile network -- for which it paid $750 million -- can't fill an ad for one of its thousands of mobile publishers, it will serve up an AdSense text of click-to-call listing on eligible phones.

Jonathan Rosenberg, Google's senior vice president of product management, told investors during the earnings call in October that mobile advertising continues on an annualized run rate of more than $1 billion in 2010. The number, intended to reassure analysts that emerging markets will augment search revenue in the long term, sent cheers through the mobile ad community and a flurry of advertising predictions.

Extending Google advertisers to AdMob apps will increase the ad fill rate for app publishers, according to Amielle Lake, CEO at tagga media, a mobile ad company. "That should result in higher earnings for publishers, which will fund and fuel the app development community and result in higher-quality apps for marketers to advertise and sponsor," she says.

Lake also says the move extends Google's reach onto Apple's iPhone and iPad. "I'm interested to see how the higher fill rate from the combined AdMob and AdWords advertisers performs for publishers versus Apple's Quattro," she says.

There are also a ton of unanswered questions, such as what kind of pressure does that put on Quattro -- and given the choice, which network will application developers choose, Lake says. Does this force Apple to seek a partnership with Yahoo or Microsoft Advertising in order to compete, she asks.

Numbers may differ, but when it comes to mobile advertising, the consensus running through the analyst and research communities identifies growth as the theme. U.S. mobile ad spending will rise to more than $1.1 billion in 2011 -- up from $743.1 million this year, according to eMarketer. The research firm estimates spending on mobile advertising will reach nearly $2.55 billion by 2014.

Mobile advertising company Smaato forecasts something similar in the U.S., with the ad market reaching nearly $798 million in 2010 and $1.24 billion in 2011.

As for AdMob, publishers will not have an option to filter the types of AdSense ads -- such as category and URL -- that run in their app. Those with ad filters selected for their AdMob inventory need to opt in to receive Google ads. Google suggests publishers check the "App Setting" tab in the Sites & Apps section of their publisher account to see if they are eligible for Google ads and opt in.