Google TV Ad Partner: Guess Who?

WebProNews Staff — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 15:39:44 +0000

New domains registered by Google may indicate the company is a step closer to offering its AdWords clients the opportunity to place advertisements on television programs. We’re going to suggest the first network that will try them on its channel.

AdWords Coming To A TV Near You?

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has discussed his distaste for untargeted advertising in other places. Recently, he expounded about the topic during his chat with Danny Sullivan at SES 2006 in San Jose:

Targeted measurable television ads or video ads on the Internet are starting now. We at Google have thought about maybe we could do targeted measurable television ads on real television. So we’re thinking about using our advertising system and our targetability for every form of advertising.

So you [ask], why would we do that? Because it’s a big opportunity to provide greater value to advertisers. It’s also a better value to provide value to end users. When you watch television, you see ads that are clearly not targeted for you. When you’re driving along in your car, you hear ads that are clearly not targeted to you. It’s a waste of your time.

Google has already taken steps toward inserting ads in radio. The search advertising company purchased dMarc Broadcasting and announced plans to use it to tuck AdWords into radio broadcasts.

ZDNet blogger Garett Rogers posted about the Google domains unearthed by Research Shelf. Google registered Googleadsensetvsite.com/net/org recently. Rogers also referenced a suggestion attributed to Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of search products & user experience: “Television should consider Google a friend, not a foe.”

Video advertisements have been making their way around Google’s network of websites that display AdSense. Google began selling video ad inventory in May. At launch it was available to advertisers in the US, Canada, and Japan.

That has been a purely web-based endeavor. For Google to make the transition to television, it seems logical that they will choose a smaller network initially to test out the technology. We think we can make a guess at who they might choose: Current TV.

There are a few reasons for making this guess. First, Al Gore is one of the people behind Current TV; Google has invested in the channel as well. Gore served as a senior advisor to Google, and Schmidt hosted a fundraiser for Gore during his presidential campaign.

Current TV also features Google Current every thirty minutes. That short feature focuses on the searches people have been making through Google on a given topic.

Google and Current have the connections at the highest levels, and it would be more surprising if any Google television advertising effort did not start with old pals Gore and Schmidt working together.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

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Google TV Ad Partner: Guess Who?