Google: We’ll Put Ads In TV Search Results

A Wall Street Journal article this morning reviews the state of so-called connected TV, which used to be called IPTV. All the big search players have initiatives going. According to the article Google has told ad executives at major agencies that it will put ads in Google TV SERPs:

The Internet giant has told ad executives that it eventually plans to sell ads that appear in search results when consumers search for what they want to watch, some of those ad executives say. But those spots won’t interrupt the ad stream that appears during a program.

The company has told media-buying executives that it doesn’t plan to put ads on its service for at least a year. A Google spokeswoman says the company has been approached by advertisers about Google TV, but it is “solely focused on launching a quality experience for users, and does not have any specific plans for advertising” at this time.

SEMPO has projected that paid search will be worth $16.6 billion in 2010 in the US. Meanwhile according to forecasts in the WSJ article TV advertising will grow to $55.8 billion this year.

Google also has major video and display ad programs that would undoubtedly make their way into the mix of ads that were shown. In fact, my guess would be that most Google TV ads wouldn’t be text ads at all, rather they’d be targeted video or rich media. Assume that a range of variables including time of day, location and viewing history could play into targeting beyond keyword matching.

This is the first time to my knowledge that Google has “said” anything about advertising on Google TV, although the article adds that Google “doesn’t plan to put ads on its service for at least a year.”

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