In my last blog I talked about the apparent "worth" of the internet to advertisers and marketing people - and also touched on a forthcoming blog around Google's Video Ads (which would be this one..) and the future of this space moving forward.
To begin let's go back to a time (if you are old enough to remember) when UK Television consisted of 3 channels (BBC1, BBC2 and ITV) in the 70's & 80's there was a magical audience peak of over 20million viewers that classics such as Morecambe & Wise would get on Christmas specials, or other such light entertainment viewing such as Eastenders used to command back in their day.
Now in 2008 - there is a vast choice of over 100 channels to watch depending on what your mood is. This has meant that the golden days of 20million+ viewers has long gone from our television screens and instead advertisers and marketing executives have to spread their funds across multiple channels to attract their target demographic to their product. Compare that to the 1980's where their spend was purely on ITV or Channel 4 - now there is SKY & Virgin Media and the numerous channels that they broadcast - so trying to attract a specific demographic now means an 8.00pm slot on ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky 1, Sky Sports, Sky Premier.... and combined they may get to around 15million viewers - but how much has that just cost them in terms of time, money and effort?
So Google then looked at this market and realised that in the UK without blinking they can attract 25million users to their site - so if you then introduce video ads to key searches and keywords then you have targeted video ads at a wider demographic - but much more structured and tailored than blasting an ad out on a key time-slot that is showing a specific program.
So according to Google the new video ads "combine the power of sound and motion with the precision of Google to provide users with a relevant and engaging advertising experience." and how are these served? "it will be displayed as a static opening image until the user interacts with the ad. Once the user clicks on the play button or the opening image, the video will start playing within the ad space. If the user clicks the display URL at the bottom of the ad, he/she will automatically be taken to the advertiser's website. We will report a click-through whenever a user clicks the display URL and visits the advertiser's site, rather than when a user clicks the play button or image."
OK I'm not going to ramble on about the YouTube generation that will expect this medium - I guess what will be interesting to watch is how this evolves:
- Will retailers push this format using existing collateral that they have - but then edit this as per Google's guidelines (they become their very own Advertising Watchdog)?
- Will it only be big brands (Ford, eBay, Tesco, Coke..) that will create specific tailored ads for this medium?
- Can smaller independent e-tailers that currently use Ad Words really capatlise on the use of video?
- Will Google start to use their delivery of ads in such a way that they will introduce pre-roll adverts before returning the users search results?
- Or will they begin to look at a fully integrated page where a "sponsor" can have a video run as the user "evaluates the returned searches"?
- Advertisers may have their videos viewed and not actually clicked through to the end product - as Google will only report a click-through whenever the display URL is selected?
- The internet has always been about promiscuous surfing where users will browse multiple pages and sites as they go?
- How will this work across affiliate networks where Google ads are currently used and in effect could start to see sites displaying video content where it might not be applicable or practical?
- Finally, how is the advertising and TV world going to interact with a company, where at the moment can command an audience that has double the viewing figures, and yet know exactly what they want and when?
Interesting times indeed ahead for Google and for the UK Marketing & Advertisers are concerned.