Will Google control Aussie TV ads too? That’s not as mad as it sounds

Tim Burrowes

March 30, 2010 5:54

What follows is a fascinating video that probably won’t happen in Australia. Except it might.

Slate’s Seth Stevenson gave Google TV Ads a whirl and discovered that it’s possible to make an ad and broadcast it on high profile shows (albeit in graveyard slots) for a few hundred bucks.

I recommmend giving it a watch.

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.

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5 COMMENTS

Liam 30 Mar 10

It could happen indeed but it would be a long way off.

My question is why would Google would be successful at this?

It was not successful with similar launches in radio or newspapers because the value proposition was thin.

Google is a wildly successful search business, I don’t see why they would be good at television and yes I am aware of youtube:)

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Ben 30 Mar 10

Here’s the problem. Google don’t know anything about the tv business.

This is like saying fox will control the search business because it is successful in tv. Just because adwords is successful doesn’t mean it can be extended into other areas … History demonstrates this.

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Harley 30 Mar 10

Saw this a couple of weeks ago and it is really quite an impressive interface. Does anyone know if an an Australian company still buy ads (for the US market I mean)?

He gets a thousand hits to a site from an ad that’s essentially about nothing, seems like a perfect way to advertise a mail-order business or something software related.

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Jimi Bostock 30 Mar 10

Yes Harley, you are thinking straight. I am tyring to think of something to advertise.

I could see this working very well and I could see it working across the empty inventory in Pay TV

Jimi Bostock
PUSH Agency
Brisbane | Canberra | Sydney | Australia
jimi@pushagency.net
pushagency.net

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Nick 31 Mar 10

Really interesting, I see no barrier for TV sales houses be they Pay or Free To Air wanting to adopt auction style mechanics to sell off unsold inventory.

The beauty of such a system is that it appears automated, companies/buyers go online book their spots and voila. No presenting of the channel to prospective clients, CPM parameters are entered into the system by the media owners, no wining and dining of said client!

Auctioning airtime such as this isnt new, its been done in the UK for some smaller cable operators to sell DRTV for a while.

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