It looks like eager ad watchers anxious to see what Google's first product from its DoubleClick acquisition would be got their answer today.

The product is called Ad Manager, and it's a free hosted service for publishers to manage the ad inventories on their Web sites.

Using DoubleClick's services, a business's sales team could manage their ad inventories and fill any unsold space on their site. Small sites with marginal sales staffs were often priced out of DoubleClick's fee-based services, however.

Sites that either sell their own ads or work with outside networks to handle ad placement could use Ad Manager to fill unsold inventory, with Google taking a slice of the revenue.

In this way, Google would extend the reach of its AdSense network, which now includes DoubleClick's DART for Publishers product.

The announcement is part of Google's ambitious strategy to increase the reach and revenue of its display advertising business. With the regulatory review of the DoubleClick purchase concluded, Google plans to move aggressively to improve its competitive position in the display market, where it is still playing catch-up to AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft.

Google sees Ad Manager as a complement to DoubleClick's premium services, rounding out its offerings for small and mid-sized companies.

Still in beta testing, Ad Manager is available by invitation only. Google said that the announcement will not affect existing DoubleClick customers.

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