ON GOOGLE SELLING VIDEO ADS

PUMP UP THE VOLUME

The New York Times has an article titled "Google Moves to sell space for video spots on network of Web Sites", that portends the changing face of the web for mainstream audiences.  Specifically,

"GOOGLE is taking its first steps to go after the huge market for television advertising this week with a new service that will place video commercials on the many Web sites where it sells advertising.

For now, Google isn't placing video advertising on Google.com or the other sites it runs, but it says it is considering doing so in the future."

It's only a matter of time that video ads enters the online advertising realm.  It's almost already here anyway.

Take my post yesterday on the frustrations of opening products in plastic blister packs.  At the time of this writing, Typepad (the service hosting this blog)'s ad partner Kanoodle, was serving up ads next to that post featuring "SealiT, Vac and Zip, (as seen on TV)". 

If you click on that ad, it launches directly into a video commercial that's familiar to most of us who've watched a little bit of late, late night TV.

As Michael Arrington points out, new startups are already focused on applying the technology of web-inspired ad-serving to off-line cable and broadcast TV networks, in a low-cost, high efficiency way:

"...small businesses already have a wonderful way of getting normal television ad spots produced and run. SpotRunner will help small businesses create an ad and run it on normal television for extremely low prices ($44 for ESPN in central California, for example)."

And while Mike Arrington makes some good points on why the particular approach outlined in the NY Times' article might not work for Google, I do think videos on web advertising are here to stay in a broader context.

I just hope against hope that both the ad networks and advertisers exercise some discipline on how intrusive these things could be made to be, something I've railed against in the past.  Inside Adwords currently states:

"...unlike some intrusive advertising, users will have complete control. When a page loads, only a static image will be visible; the video will not start playing until the user initiates it. He or she will be able to advance the video, pause it, adjust the volume or click through to the advertiser's site..."

Here's hoping against hope that this spirit of self-control catches on.

Comments

[MrBill]

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