TV Glint Grows in Google’s Eyes

Google is using advances in set-top-box technology to bring its search marketing analytics to TV advertising.

The company announced a deal with satellite television provider EchoStar that will allow advertisers to purchase Google TV ads through an auction model similar to Google’s Adwords product.

The TV advertising test expands on a trial TV run, word of which first leaked in early March. At the time, a Google spokesperson said the company was running a small, early-phase trial working closely with a small number of partners and advertisers, including Astound Cable.

The deal with EchoStar will allow advertisers to target their ads by demographic, time of day and
channel, as well as pay only for actual impressions delivered. Marketers will
be able to tell if viewers change the channel during their
commercial. Pricing will be on a cost-per-thousand (CPM) basis.

“Advertisers have gotten used to the benefits of online advertising:
more measurability, more real-time placement. Our team wanted to
bring that to offline media,” Google spokesman Brandon McCormick
told internetnews.com. McCormick said at this point the trial
is limited to a closed set of previously selected advertisers.

JupiterResearch analyst Kevin Heisler called Google’s TV ad trial a “game changer.”

He said the kinds of granular measurement Google is bringing to the market are a first for
television, giving advertisers feedback on performance and demographics
they can’t find anywhere else. Advertisers won’t have to rely on
Nielsen metrics anymore, he said.

Hiesler expects “online pure plays” already familiar with Google’s
advertising auctions to be among the first to join the trial.

Google’s McCormick said the next steps for its Google TV ads trial
are to respond to initial feedback and then open it to more
advertisers. He said the company has not decided when that will be.

The move to television is not Google’s first departure from online search
marketing.

The company tested Google Audio Ads in December, and its November print ads test allowed advertisers to bid through an online marketplace for space in more than 50 major newspapers across
the U.S.

At the time, Google said participating newspapers included the New
York Times
, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Denver Post.

And in 2005, Google brought its AdSense contextual advertising
service to RSS content in a beta test. The test followed Google’s
AdSense model for Web sites and blogs.

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