Facebook's Next Big Threat to Google

Facebook has been riding high on mobile success recently, and the company is now preparing to roll out a broader mobile ad network, which shows that the company's ad business is really starting to mature. At the moment, Facebook ads display only on the company's first-party site and apps, but it is currently testing displaying ads on third-party mobile apps, trying to increase relevance using the targeting data it collects from users. This would be all incremental upside for Facebook, since it's effectively an entirely new distribution channel.

So how worried should Google be about what clearly seems to be a direct threat? In this segment of Tech Teardown, Erin Kennedy discusses Facebook's new venture with Evan Niu, CFA, our tech and telecom bureau chief, and looks at why Google should be concerned. Google's AdMob remains one of the largest mobile ad networks, but with many developers still associating it with boring traditional mobile banner ads, the stage could be set for Facebook to be a dangerous disruptor in the months and years to come.