Looking to nab bigger advertisers, Google is working to connect its TV Ads business with YouTube and other video sites, The Wall Street Journal reports today.
Dubbed Google TV Ads Online, Google hopes that by streamlining the process of advertising across television and online video, marketers will be enticed to spend more money with the company in this down economy. The service is being tested right now and is expected to launch in the coming months.
The ad buying process isn’t the only thing Google is trying to streamline. The company announced yesterday that it would be laying off 200 people in sales and marketing.
Google has yet to translate the success it found in advertising online into other media. The company shuttered its print and radio ad programs, and while its TV Ads has scored some small victories with Hallmark, Bloomberg, and NBC cable channels, it has yet to gain widespread adoption.
YouTube hasn’t fared too well on the ad front either, hampered by content with which many advertisers don’t want to be associated. The Journal points out that in order for this to work, YouTube needs to get more longer-form content, during which audiences are more tolerant of commercials. YouTube was on a bit of a premium content tear last year, but efforts in that arena have since petered out.
If Google wants to be a player in the TV ad space, it’s got to act quickly. Canoe Ventures, a joint project of the cable companies to deliver targeted advertising, is making product announcements in the next 5-6 weeks. And as cable companies like Comcast, which is a Canoe backer, move more into online video, there’s no reason to think Canoe wouldn’t connect those dots as well.
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