14 DAY TRIAL // Google has thrived as a web company and has made a killing selling ads everywhere online. Its advertising options are almost as diverse as its cloud products, but there is still one frontier where Google has struggled and where it failed to make much headway, the old media. It gave up on its radio and publishing ventures last year and its last remaining foray, Google TV, isn't looking too good either. Analysts are now saying that this will be the Google TV's make or break year.
Coming in on its third year of existence, Google TV has been growing, adding more partners and bringing in more revenue, but it’s been far slower than the pace Google is used to. Google TV aims to provide a hybrid system, maybe a bit too ahead of its time, by creating an auctions bid system for the ad space sales, similar to the way it sells ads in AdSense.
This enables small and large advertisers alike to target very specific audiences, right down to the individual. This has the potential of opening up a huge market and even changing the TV advertising landscape. So far though, its rather limited distribution and the bold new approach have made advertisers skittish about pouring in too much money in Google TV.
Its major partner is still satellite TV provider Dish Networks, but it also has some deals with several cable operators. Additionally, it signed a deal with TiVo recently to provide it with viewership data. Google says that it sold ads on 98 networks and delivered over 100 billion impressions in 2009. Mediaweek got in touch with several media execs to get their views on the fledgling Google business. Most were reserved about the prospects, but generally they believed that Google may yet deliver on the TV space, even through sheer perseverance.
“I think 2010 is a make-or-break year for Google TV,” Tracey Scheppach, senior VP and director of video innovation for SMG, told Mediaweek. “A lot of people are wondering what role it will ultimately play for Google—big, small or not at all.”
“What Google is good at—the matching of actual or implied intent with relevant messaging—is really hard [on TV],” Rob Norman, CEO of GroupM Interaction, said. “As a result it’s hard to get very excited about the proposition even if you are a long-tail advertiser. Only a mug writes Google off, but I don’t see their efforts as transformational in the short term.”
Google, in the meantime, is confident that things will pay off at one point “We are endeavoring to solve big problems,” Mike Steib, Google’s director for emerging platforms and TV ads, told the publication. “We are getting inventory that is undervalued and making it more valuable to the owner and the buyer. Google has the stomach for this…if we’re not adding value, they’d pull the plug.”