Google TV made something of a splash when it was first announced, earning bloggers’ approval and even some early commitments from would-be buyers.  Then everyone moved on to the next big news story.  But today, a Forrester analyst returned to the subject, claiming Google TV "is a bigger deal than you think."

To drive his point(s) home, Forrester analyst James McQuivey put together a 1,050-word post.  "TV matters in a way that nothing else does" was one of his more noteworthy arguments.

"Each year, the TV drives roughly $70 billion in advertising and an equal amount in cable and satellite fees, and another $25 billion in consumer electronics sales," McQuivey pointed out.  "Plus, viewers spend 4.5 hours a day with it . . . .  Google’s goal is to get into that marketplace, eventually appropriating a healthy chunk of the billions in advertising that flow to and through the TV today with such painful inefficiency."

And with regards to the odds of Google succeeding, the analyst later wrote, "[T]he base layer of high-speed connectivity to and in the home can support Google’s ambitions.  Plus, there’s enough content online between YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix, to make it worth the bother of connecting the TV . . ."

Then there are Google’s partnerships to consider, with its alliance with Sony looking especially likely to provide its TV platform a way into people’s homes.

Google TV seems liable to enjoy another wave of positive press (and in effect, free advertising) now that all of these points have been laid out.