DirecTV and Google announced an ad sales partnership which allows Google to directly sell TV ads on channels such as Bloomberg, Fox Business, and TV Guide.

The agreement specifically mentions Googles right to sell TV ads during all day parts, including prime time TV hours.

google tv ads

Google made its first, tentative steps with video advertising in 2006 and still maintains a AdWords TV Ads service.

In 2006 Google also bought a radio ad company, making inroads in radio commercials.  They exited that market in 2009 and discontinued their Google Audio Ads service.

Google TV Ads follow the AdWords auction model, except instead of bidding on search terms you bid on air time.

The service interface helps advertisers find shows, times, and channels that match their target audience. Keyword search helps to drill down into specific shows.

Using data collected from set top boxes, Google calculates how many people have seen your TV ad how many times. DVR recorded ads arent charged, nor are views of under 5 seconds. Extreme channel skipping during the ad is suggestive of a bad fit for the channel, show or air time.

What This Means To You

Googles reach in TV advertising keeps growing, offering low-budget entry to television marketing. The auction model in general is good for companies. The targeting and reporting are efficient.

Googles deal with DirecTV keeps the TV ad service alive and going but dont look for it to overtake the traditional TV advertising model yet.

About the Author: Ruud Hein

I love helping to make web sites make it. From the ground up if needed. CSS challenges, server-side scripting, user and device friendly JavaScript tricks search engines have no problems with. Tracking how the sites perform and then figuring out how to make that performance and the tracking better. I'm passionate about information. No matter how often I trim my feeds in my feed readers (yes, I use more than one), I always have a couple of hundred in there covering topics ranging from design to usability, from SEO to SEM, from life hacks to productivity blogs, from.... Well, you get the idea, I guess. Knowledge and information management is close to my heart. Has to be with the amount of information I track. My "trusted system" is usually in flux but always at hand and fully searchable. My paid passion job at Search Engine People sees me applying my passions and knowledge to a wide array of problems, ones I usually experience as challenges. It's good to have you here: pleased to meet you! Read more...