DailyTech - Google Deploys Video Ads

Submit News

Internet Google Deploys Video Ads
Jason Mick (Blog) - February 18, 2008 4:50 PM

E-mail

del.icio.us

15 comment(s) - last by Mojo the Monke.. on Feb 19 at 3:15 PM

This week Google rolls out video to supplement its text ads

Google is jumping on the video ads bandwagon. Whereas traditional ads show slowing growth, video ads are a hot topic. This week is the first week of Google's video ad deployment, so users may begin to notice them appearing during their searches.

The Wall Street Journal received word from Google about the new development, but since then Google has been tight-lipped about exactly how they are implementing it. The only specifics Google revealed is that some users will see video ads, and these video ads will be targeted partially, based on searches.

The new initiative is part of Google's universal search campaign, which mixes images, videos, and other information with its traditional text links. Google wants to both provide video-like experiences for both its search results and for the advertisements that accompany them. The goal, it states is to provide a "TV-like" experience, which combines still and moving pictures into a rich-format experience.

A Google spokesman stated that the new ads will have a small plus sign button on them. When users click this button, a small video player will be displayed that then plays a commercial or movie trailer. The spokesman would not reveal exactly how small the button will be, but assured it would be relatively small. For now advertisers will pay the same amount for video as text advertising, though that may soon change, says Marissa Mayer, vice president of search and user experience for Google.

According to market research firm ComScore, 20 percent of viewers averaged 841 minutes of online viewing and an additional 30 percent of the users, averaged 77 minutes per month. Furthermore, Google's YouTube property reaches 54 percent of online video viewers according to the survey. This all bodes well for Google and its new campaign.

Last year Google made over $16B USD in ad revenue. It is choking out its competitors in the advertisement and search engine markets. Its advertising got a powerful boost last year with the acquisition of DoubleClick.

Still, despite epic success, Google is always hungry for a bigger piece of the pie and looking for innovative ways to get it, as evidenced by its new video ads.

Comments

Threshold

Username
Password
remember me

This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

Are you ready?

By shabby on 2/18/2008 5:02:09 PM , Rating: 5

Firefox - check
Adblock - check
Lets roll!

RE: Are you ready?

By feelingshorter on 2/18/2008 5:29:05 PM , Rating: 2

Not if they embed it into the video itself. As far as I know, even Adblock + FF can't clip off a piece of flash. I really hope google does no evil and skip he embedding!

Parent

RE: Are you ready?

By Xodus Maximus on 2/18/2008 5:36:44 PM , Rating: 2

thats what NoScript is for, with Adblock and NoScript it works all types of flash objects that I have encountered. It may seem redundant to have both, but when you allow a site to run scripts, that is when Adblock kicks in.

Parent

RE: Are you ready?

By AlphaVirus on 2/18/2008 5:32:47 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
A Google spokesman stated that the new ads will have a small plus sign button on them. When users click this button, a small video player will be displayed that then plays a commercial or movie trailer.

Do they honestly think majority of people who browse the net want MORE ads? Why in their right mind would they click on a button on purpose to view more ads?

I do not use Firefox but I seriously may have to make the switch. Either that or just never use Google sites again. More ads may be better for them but it sure does make my day MUCH more frustrating.

I have never clicked on an ad and said "Hey I want to buy this". If I want to buy something, I can just buy it when I feel like it.

Parent

RE: Are you ready?

By daftrok on 2/18/2008 6:54:52 PM , Rating: 2

Well sometimes (and on very rare occasions) there is a movie ad that when I mouse over it shows a short trailer that I would want to look more into. Or even game trailers and maybe a cool new speaker system. Other than that I hate ads and I use Adblock Plus to stay ad free for the rest of my web surfing days.

Parent

RE: Are you ready?

By Alexstarfire on 2/18/2008 8:27:15 PM , Rating: 2

Video ads are the devil. I hate them. I can live with regular ads as long as they got no sound, but video ads are a pain. Sometimes I open up like 7 tabs at once. I don't like having to search through all my tabs just to find the damn video to stop it. Of course, if the movie loads but doesn't play until you hit the play button then that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Even if it was right in my face at least I wouldn't have to listen to it's annoying sound on other tabs, or have it clash with my music that I have playing whenever I surf the web.

Parent

RE: Are you ready?

By AnnihilatorX on 2/18/2008 9:23:00 PM , Rating: 2

That's why I think next gen web browsers should only play sounds when the user is active on the page with sound and only with the sound playing video/flash visible on that page; i.e. not playing when it's scrolled away.

Parent

RE: Are you ready?

By Ashrac on 2/18/2008 9:36:23 PM , Rating: 2

For people that use AIM, remember when they started playing video ads with sounds at the top of the contact list. That was the first time I think I have ever actually gotten mad at my computer.

Any video that plays without being told too is a bad idea. It is even worse in a work environment.

Parent

RE: Are you ready?

By StevoLincolnite on 2/19/2008 2:04:38 AM , Rating: 2

I feel REALLY sorry for those who are stuck with Dial-Up connections due to no other alternatives/price and what not.

Parent

RE: Are you ready?

By BMFPitt on 2/18/2008 9:49:45 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Video ads are the devil. I hate them. I can live with regular ads as long as they got no sound, but video ads are a pain.

Nothing drives me more insane than audio coming from my browser. I stopped going to ESPN.com for a year after they rolled out thier uber annoying front page audio a few years back.

Makes me LOVE the feature in Vista where you can mute specific apps. Just wish it was persistent.

Parent

RE: Are you ready?

By Ashrac on 2/18/2008 9:56:14 PM , Rating: 2

You might like "stopplay" firefox addon.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/176...

Parent

RE: Are you ready?

By Griswold on 2/19/2008 4:04:59 AM , Rating: 1

Its irrelevant what they think about what the consumer wants. More ad revenue is the only way of financial growth for google right now and in the foreseeable future.

And they gotta keep growing or else everybodys darling falls from grace.

But yea, I'm with you on the "fuck more ads" bandwagon.

Parent

Wrong move Google.

By mindless1 on 2/19/2008 7:45:27 AM , Rating: 2

Most of us don't think video ads are hot or desirable in any way. Some n00bs might be dazzled for a moment, then they'll just want them gone including no overhead in their browser for what was intended to be a basic text search page until they reached their target destination.

Google, you need to remember why you gained ground over yahoo, it was because you didn't have all the crap on pages that yahoo did.

RE: Wrong move Google.

By mindless1 on 2/19/2008 7:51:51 AM , Rating: 2

And no, I don't care if I can put together some cocktail of browser plugins, proxies and IP filtering. Well ok I do care, but not having to do it is more desirable than having done it.

Parent

a fatal error?

By Mojo the Monkey on 2/19/2008 3:15:20 PM , Rating: 2

just from my own observations, I think google took off because it was (overly) simple and quick. Back in the day, its simplicity made the yahoo search page look like garbage. I think that drew a lot of users who didnt want to be hassled toward google.

Now, if we're going to be seeing more clutter and ad-distraction, I think people will migrate to the next simple search engine. I know I will. In fact, I am confident in saying that the minute I see a video advertisement in a search, I am changing my default search engine in my FF search-bar that very minute.

I imagine many more will do that same. Let your feet do the talking!