Overview
In the rapidly evolving ad tech and AI management landscape, two distinct products have emerged to address different pain points. Ask Ad Manager by Google Ads is an AI agent built with Gemini, designed to help publishers get deeper insights into their ad performance, troubleshoot issues, and navigate the platform more efficiently. On the other hand, DepthData is an AI spend and adoption analytics platform that connects multiple AI tools into a single, audit-ready view of spend and usage, with every number labelled by how it's verified.
While Ask Ad Manager focuses on optimizing ad operations within Google's ecosystem, DepthData tackles the broader challenge of managing and justifying enterprise AI spend across various vendors. This comparison will help you understand which product aligns with your needs.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Ask Ad Manager | DepthData |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Function | AI agent for publishers to troubleshoot ad issues, generate reports, and navigate Google Ad Manager. | AI spend and adoption analytics platform that consolidates data from multiple AI tools into one auditable dashboard. |
| Target User | Publishers using Google Ad Manager to manage their ad inventory and revenue. | Finance, IT, and operations leaders who need to track and justify enterprise AI spend across multiple tools. |
| Data Source | Publisher's own data within Google Ad Manager (line items, reports, settings). | Read-only APIs from various AI vendors (ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, etc.) and admin consoles. |
| Key Capabilities | Real-time troubleshooting, custom report generation via prompts, and guided navigation to platform settings. | Unified schema for spend and usage, data verification labels (Measured/Derived/Modelled), adoption by team, waste identification. |
| Data Privacy | Uses publisher's own data, keeps it safe and under user control. | Never reads prompts; drops any prompt text from feeds; read-only scopes only. |
| Integration | Native to Google Ad Manager, with future REST APIs and MCP server for custom agents. | Connects to multiple AI vendor consoles via APIs; publishes a connector matrix showing what each exposes. |
| Reporting | Generates custom performance reports and comparative benchmarks via conversational prompts. | Provides executive dashboard with labelled figures, adoption by team, and waste analysis with recoverable costs. |
| Deployment | Beta available within Google Ad Manager, rolling out features throughout the year. | Product demo available; no customers yet, but designed as a standalone SaaS platform. |
Pricing
Ask Ad Manager is included with Google Ad Manager, which has no upfront cost. Publishers pay only for ad serving fees based on impressions served. The AI agent is available in beta at no additional charge, with future features likely bundled into the existing platform.
DepthData pricing is not publicly disclosed. As a new product with no customers yet, it likely offers tiered subscription plans based on number of seats and integrations. Pricing would be per workspace per month, with enterprise custom quotes.
Pros and Cons
Ask Ad Manager
Pros:
- Deep integration with Google Ad Manager for seamless workflows
- Real-time troubleshooting saves time and unblocks revenue
- Personalized insights based on publisher's own data
- No additional cost for beta features
- Future developer tools for custom agent integration
Cons:
- Limited to Google Ad Manager ecosystem only
- Beta may have limited features initially
- Requires familiarity with Ad Manager to use effectively
DepthData
Pros:
- Unified view across multiple AI tools, solving fragmentation
- Every number labelled by verification method, building trust
- Never reads prompts, ensuring privacy
- Published connector matrix shows vendor limitations transparently
- Actionable waste identification with cost recovery
Cons:
- No customers yet, so unproven in production
- Pricing not disclosed, may be expensive for small teams
- Dependent on vendor APIs, some of which expose limited data
- Requires setup of multiple read-only integrations
Verdict
Choose Ask Ad Manager if you're a publisher deeply invested in Google Ad Manager and need AI-assisted troubleshooting and reporting within that platform. Choose DepthData if you're a finance or IT leader managing AI spend across multiple tools and need a defensible, auditable view of usage and costs. Both serve different needs, but DepthData addresses a broader, cross-tool challenge.