Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Google and NBC/Universal announce TV ad alliance

Just when you thought Google's oversight of your daily life couldn't delve any deeper, it has teamed with NBC to  research your TV viewing habits. While this is certainly not a revolutionary move, it illustrates Google's ambition to expand its grasp around the entire media landscape.

 An excerpt from Adage's article elaborates on the Google/NBC partnership:

The pair said they will also collaborate on a series of marketing and research projects using Google TV Ads, which can report second-by-second set-top-box data.

Think of Google as the new Neilsen Ratings System, but with deeper analysis of viewer trends and demographics. Currently, Google already has a tracking deal with Dish Networks, and the new alliance will expand their monitoring capabilities.for specific ad campaigns, because NBC will share its data from its local TV markets. As a result, they'll work with clients to formulate the best campaign for the fragmented, niche audiences- I.E. Sci-Fi Channel, Oxygen, Sleuth and others.

 According to NBC president Mike Pilot's statement in the LA Times, the project will start on a small scale, and according to the initial success,expand . The fulcrum to the entire project could prove to be small advertisers that traditionally avoided TV advertising. NBC and Google will try to lure them with the premise and promise of access and data to the niche audiences they could only reach via magazines and newspapers in the past. The LA times story elaborates:

Mike Steib, director of Google's TV advertising program, said the company had invested heavily in services to help advertisers more easily buy airtime and tailor their commercials using data from set-top boxes. For example, he said, an advertiser could run commercials on any program that mentions the Michigan Wolverines

Should the first phase of the project prove to be a worthy venture, what will be NBC's next move? Obviously, the main network programming on NBC has such a wide audience, the niche market incentive for small advertisers would be lost.

By Matt O'Hern at 08:36 AM | Comments (0)

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