According to a WebmasterWorld Forums discussion, Google will be trialing out television advertisements in a move intended to "improve user experience and bring value to advertisers."
At Google, we are constantly looking for ways to improve user experience and bring value to advertisers, publishers and partners. Users spend a lot of time watching TV so improving the relevance of advertising information on that medium is important. That's why today we are excited to announce our trial to deliver Google TV ads. Working closely with our partners, EchoStar and Astound Cable, we are currently running a trial to deliver better ads to viewers and help advertisers, operators and programmers more efficiently buy, schedule, deliver and measure ads on television.
A number of comments in Google's official press release raised eyebrows and piqued interest.
With regards to Google's claim that the "entire process is automated," a member said:
hmm, a turnkey solution for getting video ads on television - could open the market for the little guy. Am I right to assume that the major networks have proprietary solutions to semi-automate this process currently? It could be as simple as the content producers tagging their videos with keywords, demographic or otherwise, which when dumped into a system with other variables would let media buyers construct a campaign. or is this level of automation an actual shift forwards in the industry?
Another took interest in mention that the press release states that "Google TV ads are bought using an auction model" and feels that this may end up excluding smaller advertisers:
So it's going to go from $2 a click to $2,000 a view. Just how much that will open things for the "little guy"?
Others were interested in Google's success online and are hoping that Google will provide more relevant ads:
If it helps make TV ads more relevant, varied and interesting it will be just what the doctor ordered for the cable/dish companies IMO.
In all, this is an interesting move, though I expected it. Will Google introduce something new and unprecedented in their television advertising model? I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.
Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.
