Google Data » Google TV Ads Blog

An update on Google TV Ads

Emily Wood — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 21:59:00 +0000

Our goal is to provide all our customers with the best digital marketing opportunities. In 2007, we launched Google TV Ads in AdWords to bring digital buying and measurement technologies to traditional TV advertising. Since then, lots of our clients have bought traditional TV advertising for the first time.

However, video is increasingly going digital and users are now watching across numerous devices. So we’ve made the hard decision to close our TV Ads product over the next few months and move the team to other areas at Google. We’ll be doubling down on video solutions for our clients (like YouTube, AdWords for Video, and ad serving tools for web video publishers). We also see opportunities to help users access web content on their TV screens, through products like Google TV.

Of course we'll continue to support our partners, and our clients’ campaigns, as we shut the product down.

Thanks to all our clients, partners and the team that has worked on Google TV Ads over the past few years. The future of video advertising is extremely bright and we’re excited to devote ourselves fully to it.

Posted by Shishir Mehrotra

Google TV Ads: New year, new partner and new technology

Google TV Ads — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Since launching in 2007, Google TV Ads has provided advertisers a smart, measurable way to run national TV campaigns, while at the same time helping our partners (including networks, cable and satellite operators) work towards maximizing revenue from their inventory. Over the past year, we’ve seen a 6-fold increase in the number of ads aired per day as our household reach across cable and satellite operators has tripled. Today we’re pleased to continue this momentum, to help both advertisers and partners get the most from TV advertising.

New partner - welcome Cox Media

Cox Media, the advertising division of Cox Communications, the third largest cable operator in the US with more than 6 million total customers, has entered into a strategic partnership with Google TV Ads, adding their inventory to our national TV buying network. Cox becomes the first major cable industry partner to deploy Google’s next-generation advertising management solution, a major update to the TV Ads platform.

As a result of this partnership, advertisers who use Google TV Ads will have access to inventory on over 75 networks across Cox's channel line up. Cox Media is available in many cities across the country.

Building upon previously announced inventory deals with DIRECTV, Verizon FiOS, and Viamedia, Google TV Ads has nearly tripled its operator household reach since the start of 2011, to a total of 42 million households nationwide.

For Cox Media, this partnership will deliver new national TV advertisers, particularly those focused on high levels of measurement and accountability in their TV advertising, similar to how they use Google's online advertising products.

Mike Zeigler, Cox Media’s Vice President of Operations and Field Management, told us: “The media industry is changing rapidly. Our new partnership with Google TV Ads allows us to reach new market segments through a highly automated and efficient distribution platform. We are pleased to be part of bringing new television opportunities to Google advertisers.”

New ad management solution

As the TV landscape has evolved from a few to hundreds of networks, audience attention has fragmented, making the process of reaching one large audience more challenging. At the same time, TV ad inventory is split between a number of players - national networks, regional affiliates, cable, and satellite operators. As a result, each has its own slices of inventory to sell - divided across many shows, in disparate regions, on lots of channels, at various times of the day. On its own, each slice may not have a large number of viewers, or enable a major advertiser to reach a nationwide audience. And it’s time consuming to buy and sell each slice individually.

To solve this problem, Google TV Ads is announcing an update to its service that enables operators to easily opt-in and contribute these narrow slices into the Google TV Ads national inventory pool. As thousands of these slices are aggregated, this pool represents a large national audience that marketers can then customize to their audience goals.

Cox is the first major cable operator to choose this new Google TV Ads ad management solution, and moving forward we will be integrating with new partners, including Suddenlink Communications, which reaches 1.2M households.

The new solution aims to deliver higher returns for our operators while integrating with existing industry technology, streamlining time-consuming inventory management tasks such as ordering, trafficking and reporting.

Bendbroadband, a Bend, Oregon-based cable company, was the first to trial this new platform, starting in May 2011. Tim Olson, General Manager of Ad Sales for Zolo Media, a division of Bendbroadband, told us: “Google TV Ads generates more revenue, uses our inventory more efficiently and is overall easier to work with...we’re generating 4-5 times the revenue we used to.”

While we’ve come far in 2011, going forward we’ll keep working to help our partners maximize their advertising revenues. Our advertisers will be happy to know we’ll also be adding more inventory to our system by expanding our relationship with Cox Media and establishing partnerships with additional operators beginning with Suddenlink Communications. At the same time, Google TV Ads will continue to provide the same level of precision, flexibility and measurability that our advertisers have come to rely on.

You can find out more about Google TV Ads at google.com/tvads.

Posted by Mark Piesanen, Director of Strategic Partner Development, Google TV Ads

You’re Invited: Making CPG TV Buying Smarter

Google TV Ads — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:49:00 +0000

Calling all CPG marketers:

Are you marketing a brand next year? Will TV be part of your strategy...or at least, do you hope it will be?

Let’s make 2012 the year we learn more from our TV campaigns.

As the next webinar in our series, the Google TV Ads team would like to join us on Wednesday, November 16, 2011 to demonstrate how brand marketers are getting smarter about their TV buys. Highlighting real use-cases, members of the Google TV Ads sales team will show how Google TV Ads can support each stage of the product life cycle, including:

Enabling macro and micro level targeting at launch
Segmenting your audience on TV to drive growth
Analyzing post-campaign attribution and improved ROI metrics

We hope you can join us!

What: CPG Webinar: Make Your TV Campaign Smarter
When: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 2:30pm EST/11:30am PST
Register here

For more information on Google TV Ads, visit us today at google.com/tvads

Posted by David Kagan, Product Marketing Manager, Google TV Ads

You’re Invited: Making B2B TV Buying Smarter

Google TV Ads — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:54:00 +0000

Over the past year, Google TV Ads has been investing in new features to help our advertisers make smarter decisions about their TV campaigns.

The Google TV Ads team would like to invite you to a webinar on Wednesday, November 9th, 2011 to discuss the changing landscape of TV advertising for B2B marketers and how features that tie TV to online can help you better reach the B2B consumer on TV. Members of our B2B sales team will specifically cover:

The changing TV landscape - reaching the B2B consumer on TV today vs. in the ‘Three Network World’
How Google TV Ads is working to make your TV buy smarter, including:

Search Triggers: Harnessing the power of Google Search to influence your TV buy
Web Attribution: Linking TV ad exposure to website visitation

We hope you can join us!

What: Making B2B TV Buying Smarter Webinar
When: Wednesday, November 9, 2011 2:30-3:00pm EST/11:30-12:00pm PST
How: Register here

Not a B2B marketer? Don't worry! This is just the first in a series of upcoming webinars from Google TV Ads. Stay tuned for more announcements in the near future.

Posted by David Kagan, Product Marketing Manager, Google TV Ads

Online Search as a Driver of TV Buying

Google TV Ads — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:11:00 +0000

When Searches take place online, business usually follows. Advertisers utilizing Google’s AdWords and Insights for Search data have watched this pattern emerge for years, and we’re excited to now bring similar capabilities to our TV advertisers. As of today, we are pleased to announce the launch of Search Triggers, a new tool offered by Google TV Ads that uses national search trend data to control when and how you deliver your TV ads.

Let’s take a look at how this works. Suppose you own a business that sells grills. The summertime is when you generally run television advertising. But what if it’s a rainy weekend? By tapping into the power of search data, Search Triggers watches for real-time changes in the demand for terms you specify, such as “grills” or “charcoal.” When query volume spikes or declines, the Search Triggers tool automatically adjusts your daily budget up or down accordingly each day so that you’re delivering the right message with appropriate frequency at the right time.

Using search data to optimize your TV campaigns is another way that Google TV Ads is working to make your TV buy smarter. For more information, or to get started with Google TV Ads, visit google.com/tvads.

Update: Read more about Search Triggers on Mashable

Posted by Jody Shapiro, Google TV Ads Product Manager

More DIRECTV Networks Now Available through Google TV Ads

Google TV Ads — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:57:00 +0000

Since announcing our inventory partnership with DIRECTV in August 2010, Google TV Ads has offered advertisers the ability to place their TV spots on a broad selection of national inventory across 11 its networks. Today we are pleased to share that we have grown our DIRECTV reach to include five new networks. Now when you plan your TV campaign with Google TV Ads, you will have more inventory from the following networks with which to target your audience on:

FOX Soccer Channel: America's premier destination for the world's game, FOX Soccer Channel offers unprecedented coverage of live and premier world-class soccer, news and original shows throughout the year.
Gospel Music Channel: The only network with a truly non-controversial programming slate of movies, dramas, comedies and music, Gospel Music Channel is America's favorite channel for uplifting entertainment.
Logo: Appealing to a broad range of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender viewers and their friends and family, Logo features a vast library of major film titles, documentaries, and quality original shows and specials.
RFD-TV: Devoted to rural issues, concerns, and interests, much of the programming of RFD-TV is concerned with the culture of farming and agriculture.
TV Games: The leading horse racing television network in the U.S

Adding these networks expands our already strong reach on DIRECTV, which includes networks such as the TV Guide Network, Fox Business Network, Current TV, and more. Along with our previously announced operator partners including Dish Network, Verizon FiOS, and ViaMedia, Google TV Ads now offers the ability to reach up to 35M households across the US.

For more information on how to get started with Google TV Ads, visit www.google.com/tvads today.

Posted by Sanjeev Das, Software Engineer, Google TV Ads

*Network descriptions sourced from the Cable Advertising Bureau

Viamedia Launches on Google TV Ads Platform

Google TV Ads — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:46:00 +0000

Earlier this year we announced a strategic inventory agreement with Viamedia, a provider of advertising sales services to some of the fastest growing cable and telco operators in the US. Today we are pleased to announce that we have completed integration of Viamedia’s two million households into the Google TV Ads platform, making inventory available on 64 networks across their operator partners. With this integration, the household reach of Google TV Ads has now nearly tripled since the beginning of the year.

For those customers that already have Google TV Ads campaigns up and running, there’s nothing you need to do at this time. When eligible, your campaigns will automatically include Viamedia inventory, maximizing reach while staying within your desired budgets.

For more information or to learn more about advertising with Google TV Ads, visit www.google.com/tvads.

Posted by Kevin Buskirk, Technical Account Manager, Google TV Ads

Measuring the Online Impact of TV

Google TV Ads — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:30:00 +0000

At Google we love data. We feel that the more of it you have, the better decisions you’re likely to make. It’s for this reason that we’re excited to introduce Web Attribution, Google TV Ads’ newest feature that, for the first time, allows you to measure the impact your TV ads have on driving traffic to your website.

So how’s it work? Web Attribution links historical website visitation trends from Google Analytics with your TV campaign data in AdWords. By establishing a baseline of typical web traffic patterns, we look for deviations from the norm. Matching these deviations with the exact times and places your TV Ads air on our system, we are able to attribute visits that resulted from exposure to your ads. Daily reporting of your Attributed Visits, as well as the Cost per Attributed Visit, will be available on a per-airing basis so you can see which networks, programs, and ad creatives are delivering the best results for your campaign.

This is just another way that Google TV Ads is working to make your TV buy smarter. We encourage you to find out how to get started with Web Attribution today. You can also always find more information about Google TV Ads at google.com/tvads.

Posted by Jody Shapiro, Product Manager, Google TV Ads

Verizon FiOS Launches on Google TV Ads Platform

Google TV Ads — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:19:00 +0000

This past November we announced that we had struck a partnership agreement with Verizon FiOS, one of the fastest growing television providers in the nation. Today we are pleased to announce that we have completed integration of FiOS’ 4M households into Google TV Ads, opening up inventory across over 50 networks, including AMC, ESPN, Discovery, Fox News, MTV, and other popular channels. With the addition of this new inventory to our system, Google TV Ads has now extended its reach to more than 25% of all US television households.

To ensure a smooth transition, current advertisers’ campaigns will automatically extend to this new inventory when eligible, achieving maximum reach for their message.

For more information or to learn more about advertising with Google TV Ads, visit www.google.com/tvads.

Posted by Sanjeev Das, Software Engineer, Google TV Ads

Making TV Buys Smarter

Unknown — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:27:00 +0000

We’ve all heard the old adage about not knowing which 50% of your advertising is wasted. Well, TV advertisers often tell us this is absolutely true. And with the proliferation of online ad formats that are highly targeted and measurable, the impact of TV ads can feel even more abstract by comparison. It doesn't help that typical TV buys are often slow to provide data, and that data is often very limited.

The good news is that TV advertising technology has been advancing rapidly, helping advertisers better understand how TV helps them achieve their marketing objectives. Platforms like Google TV Ads are bringing targeting, measurement and speed to TV like never before. Unfortunately, too many advertisers don’t know these solutions exist.

It’s time that changed. To that end, we’re excited to announce the launch of an advertising campaign to spread the word about Google TV Ads and its ability to make your TV buy smarter.

If you frequent sites like AdAge or MediaPost, you are likely to see our campaign over the next couple of months. You can also check out our new campaign website at google.com/smarterTVads.

Posted by Eric Meyerson, Head of TV and Video Ads Marketing

Building a Larger TV Ad Network

Unknown — Tue, 17 May 2011 21:40:00 +0000

We announced our partnership with DIRECTV this past summer, and this week we completed integration to extend the reach of Google TV Ads into 30M homes, soon to grow to 35M. Partnering with DIRECTV, the largest satellite provider and second largest TV distributor in the US, enables us to offer multi-distributor airings on Bloomberg Television, Cartoon Network (West), Centric, Chiller, Current TV, Discovery Fit and Health, Fox Business, Fuel, Ovation, Sleuth and TV Guide across all dayparts, every day.

We're excited about what this enables for advertisers -- more reach, across more operators with no additional work. We'll automatically make sure your ads air across distributors including DIRECTV to maximize the reach on each of your targets while staying within your budgets. We're working quickly to integrate our Verizon FiOS and ViaMedia partnerships to elevate reach to 35M homes, or almost one-third of TV viewing homes in the US.

Extending Your Reach with Google TV Ads
Increasing the reach of your TV campaigns across this new inventory is a simple process: target any of the networks where we have DIRECTV inventory, and your campaign will be eligible for airings across all of our partners including DIRECTV. It has never been easier to buy airings across multiple operators while reaching a targeted and measurable national audience.

We’re thrilled to continually add reach for our advertisers and work with a growing number of committed partners. Stay tuned for future announcements and learn more about Google TV Ads at our website: www.google.com/tvads.

Posted by Trevor O'Brien, Product Manager for Google TV Ads

More Layers of Data Improve Your TV Targeting Abilities

Lauren Hoover-Gordon — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:45:00 +0000

Google TV Ads’ audience targeting tool brings together numerous data sources to enable advanced targeting on TV. The merging of clustering models like Nielsen's PRIZM household segments with anonymized Equifax and set-top box data allows you to target multi-dimensional audiences like women ages 18-24 who love photography. Now we’re adding yet another data set to make that experience even richer -- P$YCLE segmentation.

P$YCLE is a market segmentation system from the Nielsen Company that marketers use to understand and target households by financial behavior and wealth. P$YCLE groups households into 58 unique segments based on income-generating assets, spending habits, investment behavior, and various financial and demographic characteristics.

Sample P$YCLE segments include:

Feathered Nests – There's money tucked away in Feathered Nests, a collection of middle-aged families with high incomes and above-average investable assets. A mix of college-educated Whites and Asians, these 35- to 54-year-olds typically hold management jobs and have begun filling their retirement accounts with mutual funds, stocks, bonds, and CDs. They're also a strong credit market, often carrying jumbo mortgages and home equity lines of credit. Insurance omnivores, they own annuities, term and whole life, disability coverage, and auto insurance for their multiple cars. And they enjoy good-life pursuits, like golfing and sailing, boutique shopping for children's toys and collectibles, and tuning their high-end TVs to ice hockey matches and public broadcasting programs. For investment tips, they read a variety of business magazines.

Online Living – No segment scores higher for using Internet banking than Online Living. This group of mostly 25- to 44-year-old singles, couples, and families ranks at the top for stock trading and bill paying, as well as buying at retail websites. Many of these web-surfers live in suburban sprawl areas, own their homes and have upscale incomes, but they have only modest levels of income-producing assets and are still paying off student and personal loans.

To get started, simply select a P$YCLE segment in the Google TV Ads interface. Google will create a custom list of cable networks, dayparts, and programs that are popular with your target audience.

Finding your target audience on TV has never been easier and we’re thrilled to continue to explore the powerful ways to connect technology, data, and television.

Posted by Jody Shapiro, Product Manager for Google TV Ads

The Next Generation of TV and Video Ad Creation — For Free

Unknown — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:47:00 +0000

2011 is proving to be a big year for video, both online and offline. In fact, TV viewing in the US has held steady at an average of 5 hours per day while online video usage surged by 45% this year to over 4 hours per month.* Video consumption is positioned to only continue growing as consumers crave more information and entertainment across numerous devices.

Naturally, this trend increases the importance of video for businesses, but we know that getting started with video advertising can be a formidable challenge. First and foremost, how do you create a compelling and effective video ad on a reasonable budget?

That’s why we’re excited to announce Google’s extended partnership with SpotMixer which allows Google AdWords and TV Ads customers to create custom ads absolutely free of charge. Your ads can be aired across TV and online video sites as many or as few times as you wish. This offer represents our increased commitment to advertisers who want to leverage video to increase brand awareness and ROI.

Integrated directly into Google AdWords, SpotMixer provides a simple and powerful ad creation tool that takes your existing AdWords campaigns and converts text ads into a tailored video or TV ad. From there, select from a variety of professional templates which set the pacing, transitions, effects and design of the ad. SpotMixer also provides a full gallery of stock images, videos and music in addition to allowing the use of your own photos, text, and logos.

Viola, you now have a custom ad for use across Google TV Ads and Google’s Display Network including YouTube.

Already have a TV or video ad? Upload it directly into SpotMixer to edit the entire ad or just select parts to improve aesthetics and effectiveness. Once you’re done, SpotMixer will provide the correctly timed formatted file to download onto your computer then upload directly into your Google TV Ads or AdWords ad library.

Imagine the power of this free tool which allows 100% of your budget to go straight to your media plan rather than ad creative.

Test different calls to action
• Customize different ads for your various target segments (for example, customize one ad version for female consumers and another for male)
• Get specific in your tracking -- build ads with different phone numbers and tracking URLs to test effectiveness of different media placements
• Run seasonal ads throughout the year

Create integrated campaigns
• Create :15 and :30 versions of your ad to run on TV and online
• Try bookending with two :15 seconds ads

The possibilities are only as limited as your imagination and business goals. Find SpotMixer in your AdWords account in two ways:
Via Google TV Ads campaign page -- select ‘New Ad’ and click on the link to SpotMixer
Via Google AdWords -- select ‘New Ad’ and access SpotMixer via the Video and Audio section of Display Ad Builder.

2011 promises to be an exciting year for video advertising and along with our partners at SpotMixer, we hope these tools put you on the path to success.

*Nielsen Three Screens Report, Q1 2010 and Nielsen Overall Online Video Usage (U.S.), January 2011

Post by Neha Mandal, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

SelectQuote Uses Google Technology to Decrease Cost-per-Lead

Unknown — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 23:15:00 +0000

Founded in 1985, SelectQuote.com pioneered an impartial, pressure-free way to shop for term life insurance from competing insurance companies. The company has long since utilized television to drive awareness and inbound queries but in 2008, it added Google TV Ads to its media mix to enhance those efforts.

“Right out of the gate, we saw positive results -- lots of incremental calls and efficient media costs,” says Kim Terrill, director of broadcast media for SelectQuote.com. However, Kim admits that tracking had become challenging with over 25 unique phone numbers mapping to various ads. SelectQuote decided to simplify and use just one phone number even though that meant not being able to track which networks were bringing in which calls.

Around this time, Google TV Ads began experimenting with its call attribution feature which automates the analysis and attribution of incoming customer calls and produces reports detailing call metrics for each spot aired. Using Google technology, the feature analyzes and understands which ad drove which calls, even if multiple ads drive viewers to the same phone number. After SelectQuote's call logs were uploaded into the system, Google matched incoming calls with aired spots based on date, time, historical call volumes and a host of other factors. "We started to see trends and were able to identify the targets that brought in the highest and lowest cost-per-lead (CPL) on a consistent basis, Kim notes. "I could adjust my budgets and bids at anytime based on this data to easily manage to a desirable CPL.”

SelectQuote's CPL decreased by 35% after four weeks of optimizing campaigns using Google TV Ads’ call attribution feature compared to the four week period prior. As Kim puts it, “what is truly astonishing is that we are using Google’s smart technologies to directly and easily improve what we’re doing.”

Learn more about SelectQuote's success by reading the entire case study here. If your business could benefit from powerful call attribution metrics, create a Google TV Ads campaign to access this and other features cost-free.

Posted by Neha Mandal, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

Google TV Ads: Wired about Cable

Unknown — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Google expands operator footprint in the start of 2011 with 18 cable providers, 68 networks, and 2M additional homes

We’re excited to start off 2011 with a strategic agreement that continues to grow the reach of Google TV Ads. Our newest inventory partner, Viamedia, is a provider of advertising sales services to partners including 18 of the top 30 cable operators in the US. By partnering with Viamedia, Google adds 2 million homes to the TV Ads system on 68 popular cable networks across 18 cable operators.

This continued growth of our platform means 35 million cable, satellite, and telco homes in the US are now integrated into Google TV Ads. Our platform now offers 1,200 GRPs and 1.5 billion available impressions each week for advertisers to target through one simple interface.

Both Viamedia and Google are forward-looking in our approach to television advertising, making this a natural collaboration. We are thrilled to to welcome our new partners and offer our advertisers greater reach across the television universe.

Posted by Mark Piesanen, Strategic Partner Development for Google TV Ads

Google TV Ads: Wired about Cable

Neha — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Google expands operator footprint in the start of 2011 with 18 cable providers, 68 networks, and 2M additional homes

We’re excited to start off 2011 with a strategic agreement that continues to grow the reach of Google TV Ads. Our newest inventory partner, Viamedia, is a provider of advertising sales services to partners including 18 of the top 30 cable operators in the US. By partnering with Viamedia, Google adds 2 million homes to the TV Ads system on 68 popular cable networks across 18 cable operators.

This continued growth of our platform means 37 million cable, satellite, and telco homes in the US are now integrated into Google TV Ads. Our platform now offers 1,200 GRPs and 1.5 billion available impressions each week for advertisers to target through one simple interface.

Both Viamedia and Google are forward-looking in our approach to television advertising, making this a natural collaboration. We are thrilled to to welcome our new partners and offer our advertisers greater reach across the television universe.

Posted by Mark Piesanen, Strategic Partner Development for Google TV Ads

Launched: Only Pay for Your Target Audience

Neha — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 19:44:00 +0000

We’re excited to announce the ability to only pay for the audience delivered on your Google TV Ads campaigns. Google TV Ads has always emphasized accountability - advertisers only pay for the households that are tuned into their ads. Now, there’s another accountable option for advertisers and agencies: buying based on the demographic audience that is tuned into your ad.

Google TV Ads offers a rich set of tools to help you find the networks and shows that best reach your desired audience. We’re now taking that advanced functionality to the next level by offering you a choice to bid on and only pay for the relevant audience you’re interested in; you don’t pay for the audience you’re not interested in reaching.

For example, if you are primarily interested in reaching males 18-49, you’d simply create a campaign, indicate that you want to reach males 18-49, and specify the most you’re willing to pay on a cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) basis for in-demo viewers.

Screenshot: Advertisers now have the choices to bid on households, or on a specific demographic audience.

After you’ve defined an audience, Google TV Ads’ tools will help find the spots that deliver that audience in the highest concentrations based on aggregate viewership data, and you choose which networks, dayparts and programs you wish to add to your campaign.

If you indicate that you wanted to bid on an audience, you will only pay for the viewers that fall into that audience and were tuned-in to your ad. To measure the number of in-demo viewers for a spot, Google TV Ads uses a combination of Nielsen viewership data, aggregate demographic data and anonymous set-top-box data. The audience buying option will be available on all cable TV networks and dayparts we carry that are also measured by Nielsen.

For some advertisers and agencies who regularly advertise on TV, this feature brings an audience buying option to Google TV Ads that you’re already familiar with. For other advertisers, this feature provides an improved and more efficient way to choose and buy your exact audience on national television.

To learn more about Google TV Ads, please check out our website.

Posted by Steve Stukenborg, Product Manager for Google TV Ads

Launched: Only Pay for Your Target Audience

Unknown — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 19:44:00 +0000

After you’ve defined an audience, Google TV Ads’ tools will help find the spots that deliver that audience in the highest concentrations based on aggregate viewership data, and you choose which networks, dayparts and programs you wish to add to your campaign.
If you indicate that you wanted to bid on an audience, you will only pay for the viewers that fall into that audience and were tuned-in to your ad. To measure the number of in-demo viewers for a spot, Google TV Ads uses a combination of Nielsen viewership data, aggregate demographic data and anonymous set-top-box data. The audience buying option will be available on all cable TV networks and dayparts we carry that are also measured by Nielsen.

For some advertisers and agencies who regularly advertise on TV, this feature brings an audience buying option to Google TV Ads that you’re already familiar with. For other advertisers, this feature provides an improved and more efficient way to choose and buy your exact audience on national television.

To learn more about Google TV Ads, please check out our website.

Posted by Steve Stukenborg, Product Manager for Google TV Ads

New Year’s Resolution Webinar — What You Missed

Neha — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 21:54:00 +0000

If you missed our recent webinar on ways to reach New Year's "Resolutionaries" interested in diet, fitness, supplements, wellness, rehab and treatment products and services, don't worry. That doesn't mean you have to miss out on the content presented! Here's a quick snapshot:

While it makes sense that the New Year season sees lifts in business for health and fitness related industries, did you know that consumer consideration happens well before the New Year? Take a look at these snapshots of search volume trends going from December 2009 into January 2010.

Caption: Google Trends snapshot of search trends for diet and fitness keywords from December 2009 - January 2010

So, how do you make sure to stand out in a season when interest in these categories is growing? Shift budgets at anytime to increase visibility across media like television the week of December 26 to generate brand awareness and search momentum. Get really targeted by choosing networks and programs that appeal to your audience or are related in context to your products (e.g. choose a fitness-related show if you are selling gym equipment).

Thanks to the flexibility of Google TV Ads, you can dial budgets up or down, edit targets or add new creative at anytime. If you don't have a campaign yet but have a video ad, it takes minutes to set-up your TV ads campaign before you leave for the holidays.We even have targeting tools that do all the work in finding the right places for you ad. So simply set a campaign start date, budget and maximum CPM and our system will do the work while you enjoy your holiday weekend!

If you'd like more information on how to get started broadcasting 100+ networks to drive momentum into the New Year, contact adwords-support@google.com.

Posted by Andrew Stinger for Google TV Ads

New Year’s Resolution Webinar — What You Missed

Unknown — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 21:54:00 +0000

Caption: Google Trends snapshot of search trends for diet and fitness keywords from December 2009 - January 2010

If you'd like more information on how to get started broadcasting 100+ networks to drive momentum into the New Year, contact adwords-support@google.com.

Posted by Andrew Stinger for Google TV Ads

Gear Up for the New Year with Google TV Ads’ Healthcare-Focused Webinar

Unknown — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 20:27:00 +0000

Free Google hosted webinar on December 9, 2010 at 1:30pm EST/10:30am PST – RSVP Today!

Americans spend billions each year on diet and health programs, fitness, and wellness – especially when the New Year rolls around. Resolution themed search queries steadily increase this time of year, indicating heightened consumer attentiveness to health and fitness related products and services. We want to be sure you're equipped to take advantage of this seasonal phenomenon by fine-tuning your TV campaigns to maximize reach with the right audiences.

Businesses in the health and fitness vertical are welcome to join us on December 9th to learn how the Google TV Ads platform can help you make the most of your TV dollars during this critical time of year. We will cover a number of topics including:

Live Demo of the Google TV Ads platform
Tips & Tricks to unlock hidden opportunities with Google TV Ads
Synchronizing TV campaigns with your online marketing activities
Tactical recommendations for campaign structure and timing

Spots are limited and registration is required to attend, so please register today.

Posted by Andrew Stinger for Google TV Ads

Gear Up for the New Year with Google TV Ads’ Healthcare-Focused Webinar

Neha — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 20:27:00 +0000

Free Google hosted webinar on December 9, 2010 at 1:30pm EST/10:30am PST – RSVP Today!

Live Demo of the Google TV Ads platform
Tips & Tricks to unlock hidden opportunities with Google TV Ads
Synchronizing TV campaigns with your online marketing activities
Tactical recommendations for campaign structure and timing

Spots are limited and registration is required to attend, so please register today.

Posted by Andrew Stinger for Google TV Ads

This is big. This is FiOS + Google TV Ads

Unknown — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:01:00 +0000

Reach, precision, utility and measurement. These are the qualities we strive to deliver to customers, and we're getting better at it everyday. Today we've strengthened the reach of the Google TV Ads platform even further by signing a partnership with Verizon FiOS TV, one of the fastest growing television providers with the largest fiber-optic network in the US. By adding over 50 networks on Verizon FiOS TV across 3.3 million homes, we can offer you growing access to the audiences you want to reach on television.

By early 2011, advertisers will be able to reach 35 million households, or almost one-third of all US cable and satellite homes through Google TV Ads. Combine this reach with our digital buying platform, and you have one powerful solution that can deliver results.

Like Google, Verizon cares deeply about the evolution and future of TV advertising. Together we're thrilled to establish this partnership to offer great inventory and access to your audience via the Google TV Ads platform.

Posted by Mark Piesanen, Director of Strategic Partnerships for Google TV Ads

This is big. This is FiOS + Google TV Ads

Neha — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:01:00 +0000

And the Winners Are…

Unknown — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 21:15:00 +0000

"TV and video advertising is only for big businesses."
"Creating a good video ad is too expensive."

These are just some of the myths we wanted to dispel by launching the TV for All contest this September. As the contest comes to a close, it's clear that small and medium sized businesses are energized about new media platforms and that they are creating inspired ads using innovative solutions such as SpotMixer without breaking the bank.

We were thrilled to receive hundreds of entries and plenty of excitement from businesses around the country. Our panel of judges including creative and agency experts had the tough task of narrowing the pool down to a handful of finalists who best exemplified creativity and clear messaging. In the end, the YouTube community come together to crown three winners. Congraulations to our winners - Proust, OraBrush and FreeTaxUSA.com who will each receive $25,000, $15,000 or $10,000 in TV and video advertising with Google TV Ads. Each of these ads embraced an innovative concept and put forth a clear and compelling message to win over thousands of voters.

On behalf of the Google TV Ads and SpotMixer teams, thank you to everyone who entered. And remember, even if you didn't win the contest, you now have a compelling ad creative that can be put to good use!

Posted by Neha Mandal, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

Last Days to Vote on Your Favorite Ads!

Neha — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:32:00 +0000

We're excited by the momentum of the TV for All contest this year which brought in hundreds of video submissions and tons of energy from businesses across the nation. Now, seven finalists (announced last month) are counting on your votes to crown the top three winners. Visit the contest brand channel, and click on the 'vote' tab to view entries and cast your votes.

Voting will close on Tuesday, November 9th before the clock strikes midnight. So speak up today and tell us which businesses you think deserve $25,000, $15,000 or $10,000 in TV and video advertising through Google AdWords to kick start their media campaigns.

If you didn't have a chance to enter your business this year, you can still learn about Google TV Ads and how it makes launching national TV campaigns easy and affordable. Stuck in the ad creation process? No problem, check out Google's Ad Creation Marketplace or SpotMixer's simple ad creation tools which make ad creation easy on you and your budget.

Posted by Neha Mandal, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

FUNimation Entertainment Increases Sales by 35%

Unknown — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 17:46:00 +0000

When you think about anime, you probably think of two things: Japanese cartoons of an adult nature, and kids shows like Pokémon. That limited view of the medium is exactly the problem that FUNimation Entertainment, the largest distributor of anime in the US, was facing when it turned to Google TV Ads and In-Stream video to raise awareness and expand its audience.

FUNimation’s media manager, Catherine Kim, explains, “65 to 70% of our customers are males, ages 18-34, with an interest in gaming and comics. Our challenge is growing our audience beyond that core demographic. We have to break down a lot of misconceptions and build awareness.” Realizing that its product could only truly shine with advertising that incorporated sight, sound and motion, FUNimation decided to expand its media mix to include television and online video.

Above: A screen shot from Afro Samurai: Resurrection, voiced by Samuel L. Jackson - one of hundreds of titles distributed by FUNimation.

FUNimation’s TV campaign consisted of 35 television networks, including ESPN, MTV and USA. Online, the company ran commercial on YouTube and Google Display Network partner sites including Marvel.com, Sonybmg.com and WWE.com. By using Google’s advanced measurement tools and with the flexibility of the system, FUNimation was able to optimize its buy to maximize results.

“The results were immediately apparent,” says Catherine. When compared to pre-campaign levels, FUNimation saw a 44% increase in new visitors to its website and a 35% increase in DVD sales for the promoted product line.

“Marketing is all about testing, and testing can be a challenge with a limited budget. With Google TV Ads and In-Stream online videos, we can find out what works best for us and grow our market. I know that makes me sound like a Google dork, but it’s just the truth,” remarks Catherine. If you want to become a Google dork yourself, you can read the full case study or visit us at google.com/tvads.

Posted by David Mogensen, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

FUNimation Entertainment Increases Sales by 35%

Neha — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 17:46:00 +0000

Above: A screen shot from Afro Samurai: Resurrection, voiced by Samuel L. Jackson - one of hundreds of titles distributed by FUNimation.

It’s Voting Season: Choose Your Favorite TV for All Entries

Neha — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 20:16:00 +0000

Voting season is heating up around the country and even here at Google -- it's time to cast your votes for the TV for All contest! We asked businesses to get creative, produce a video ad and enter for a chance to win up to $25,000 in TV and video advertising through Google AdWords. We had an incredible response from hundreds of businesses of all types and sizes. Last week, our panel of judges narrowed down the entrants seven finalists.

Now, it's your turn to help crown the ultimate three winners of the contest. Visit www.youtube.com/tvforall to view each finalist and cast your votes through November 9th. With your participation, you can help three deserving businesses win $25,000, $15,000 or $10,000 in TV and video advertising media to kick start their aspirations of broadcasting their businesses. Don't forget to vote by November 9th!

Posted by Neha Mandal, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

It’s Voting Season: Choose Your Favorite TV for All Entries

Neha — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 20:16:00 +0000

Kantar Media Partners with Google TV Ads to Provide Enhanced Audience Data

Neha — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 13:40:00 +0000

Advertisers will soon receive even more accurate ad performance and viewership data for Google TV Ads campaigns aired on DIRECTV. We’ve signed an agreement with Kantar Media, a leading audience measurement and research firm, to incorporate set-top-box data collected from 100,000 DIRECTV subscribers as part of Kantar Media’s DIRECTView™ service.

Earlier this year, we announced a partnership with DIRECTV which will bring advertising inventory across a broad selection of its networks to our system in 2011. By integrating Kantar’s DIRECTV viewership data into our system, we’ll be able to provide much more robust performance data for spots aired on DIRECTV. For advertisers, this means more accurate impression counts and viewership metrics leading to increased efficiency of your TV campaigns.

We hope to integrate this new data into our system in early 2011. To learn more about how Google TV Ads can help you achieve your marketing goals, please visit our website.

Post by Vinay Bhargava, Strategic Partnership Development for Google TV Ads

Kantar Media Partners with Google TV Ads to Provide Enhanced Audience Data

Neha — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 13:40:00 +0000

Post by Vinay Bhargava, Strategic Partnership Development for Google TV Ads

Last Call for Submissions for the TV for All Contest

Neha — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 19:12:00 +0000

The TV For All contest is going strong with fantastic submissions and a growing number of channel views everyday. On October 12th, the submission period will be closed -- so if you haven't entered yet, there are four more days to do so! Remember, after October 12th, a panel of expert judges will view all submissions and choose the top 10. The YouTube community will then pick the top three winners who will receive up to $25,000 in TV and video advertising with Google. This is a lucrative opportunity to not only win major media dollars, but to get invaluable exposure for your business on YouTube. Good luck!

Posted by Neha Mandal, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

Reach Your Customers This Holiday Season With Google TV Ads

Lauren Hoover-Gordon — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 23:17:00 +0000

Even though summer is just ending, the holiday shopping season is already in full swing. According to a recent Google/OTX State of Shopping study, nearly half of the country has already started shopping for the holidays. Electronics, toys and home appliances are anticipated to be some of the top spending categories this year (see below). Using the advanced targeting and measurement tools of Google TV Ads, you can pinpoint audiences interested in these and many other products and services this holiday season.

Suppose you are an electronics retailer looking to use Google TV Ads to reach your customers. According to a new study from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), spending on electronics is up for both men and women, with men spending $969 in the past 12 months and women spending $631. Knowing that your audience skews more heavily toward men, you can use the Google TV Ads targeting tool to instantly get recommendations on networks and programs that make sense for your audience (in the example below, we have entered males aged 18-49 as a target).

In this case, the system recommends networks such as the NFL Network, the only channel dedicated entirely to the National Football League and ESPN, the top network for men over the age of 18 that earn at least $75K. It also provides a "Relevance" measure, which is an indicator of how closely the audience of that network matches your target audience (the higher the number, the more relevant the programming).

The holidays are an unpredictable time of year. You may find that you have run out of DVD players, but haven't sold a single 3D television. With the flexibility of Google TV Ads, you can change your programming with the click of a mouse, decreasing budgets for campaigns focused on DVD players, and increasing budgets for those focused on 3D TVs. Because the programming is never bundled, you can pick just the shows that make sense for your audience.

Find out more about advertising with Google TV Ads at Google.com/TVAds. Happy holidays!

Posted by David Mogensen, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

Reach Your Customers This Holiday Season With Google TV Ads

Lauren Hoover-Gordon — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 23:17:00 +0000

Find out more about advertising with Google TV Ads at Google.com/TVAds. Happy holidays!

Posted by David Mogensen, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

Calling all businesses for a chance to win $25k in Google TV and video advertising

Neha — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:57:00 +0000

We're thrilled to announce the second annual TV for All contest, where businesses have the opportunity to win $25,000 in national advertising on Google TV Ads, and online video partner sites including YouTube.

We originally launched this contest last year and received nearly 250 submissions. Three winners, including Owners.com, won free TV media through Google and successfully extended their brands across the nation.

"It's always exciting to see what other marketers think of your work," says George Karavaras of Owners.com on why the company entered TV for All in 2009. The best part, he says, is that "it doesn't take a lot of time or money to create a high impact TV ad through Google's creative network."

Now it's your turn! Entering is easy: simply create a video ad for your business, upload it to YouTube and submit it to our TV for All Channel between September 15th and October 12th. If you don't have a video ad or the tools to create one, professional tools by SpotMixer will be available for free to help entrants make polished ads in just minutes.

Three winners whose ads best exemplify creativity and a compelling message will receive $25,000, $15,000 or $10,000 in national TV and online video advertising using Google AdWords.

If you're never promoted your business using TV and video, then the TV for All contest is your chance to get started. Check back for more details as our contest progresses and visit www.youtube.com/tvforall for more details and to enter today.

Posted by Neha Mandal, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

Calling all businesses for a chance to win $25k in Google TV and video advertising

Neha — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:57:00 +0000

DIRECTV Partners with Google TV Ads

rginsberg — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:37:00 +0000

Today, we’re announcing a strategic partnership with DIRECTV through which Google TV Ads will offer inventory on a broad selection of television networks available on DIRECTV.

DIRECTV’s national satellite inventory on Bloomberg Television, Centric, Chiller, Current TV, Fit TV, Fox Business, Fuel, G4, Ovation, Sleuth and TV Guide will be available through the Google TV Ads platform across all dayparts, including primetime. DIRECTV is the largest satellite provider in the U.S. and the second largest television distributor by household reach. This partnership, combined with our existing relationship with DISH Network, means that you’ll be able to reach up to 30 million satellite households with Google TV Ads.

We’re partnering with DIRECTV because of our shared commitment to innovation in the television advertising space. You’ll have the ability to target this new inventory along with over 98 other cable networks already offered through our platform. To learn more about advertising with Google TV Ads, visit www.google.com/tvads.

Posted By Mike Steib, Director of Emerging Platforms

Hot Summer TV Premieres

Neha — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:55:00 +0000

Summer is in full swing, and so is the summer TV season. There are some great new shows and old favorites returning this season which bring prime opportunity for advertisers to reach their audiences. Google TV Ads offers inventory across more than 98 networks and enables anyone to create and air TV ads nationally. Here just some of the highlights from this summer's TV season.

With season four debuting on Sunday, July 25th, Mad Men fans are buzzing with excitement. For advertisers, this is a great opportunity to reach an upscale and educated audience. Target Mad Men across DISH Network's 14M homes and align your message with this high caliber show by creating a Google TV Ads campaign today. The series which won three consecutive Golden Globes and two Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series, airs on AMC Sunday nights at 10pm.

On August 1st, AMC will also debut its original series Rubicon with two back-to-back 60m episodes at 8pm. The show promises to 'tap into our collective paranoia' by chronicling an intelligence analyst who cracks codes for a living. This show is a great chance to target adults 21+ who are interested in sci-fi and thrillers.

Also this summer, the Real Housewives franchise is expanding again -- this time to Washington DC. Bravo will debut The Real Housewives of DC at 10pm beginning on Thursday, August 5th. Early August also sees the return of The Rachel Zoe Project on Bravo. Season three opens August 3rd at 11pm and during the new season, viewers will catch appearances of Zoe's high-profile clients including Gwen Stefani and Demi Moore. Both shows can be targeted across 14M homes through our platform which enables you to target these specific programs without having to buy any bundled inventory.

Finally, don't forget the exciting tournaments coming up in the world of tennis. Through our partnership with Tennis Channel, advertisers can get in on the action during the US Open and reach the network's entire audience of 28M tennis and sports lovers. The US Open tournament runs from August 30th through September 12th and will feature over 30 matches amongst the best in the game.

There are so many more prime opportunities on TV this summer, be sure to take advantage of the great media that's easily accessible through Google TV Ads.

Posted by Neha Mandal, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

Hot Summer TV Premieres

Neha — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:55:00 +0000

TV Ads Enable Vat19.com to Grow Sales and Web Traffic

Neha — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:18:00 +0000

Today we're thrilled to turn the reins over to our guest blogger, Jamie Salvatori of Vat19.com. We hope to continue inviting our partners and advertisers to contribute on occasion so that you can get the scoop on their stories and experiences. We kick off this series with guest blogger Jamie Salvatori, owner of Vat19.com, a purveyor of "curiously awesome products." In other words, they make it easy to find and buy really cool and interesting stuff. Vat19.com has been using Google TV Ads for nearly two years with impressive results and was recently profiled by Practical Ecommerce, a publication focused on online merchants. Read on to hear Jamie discuss his company's success with television advertising.

In December of 2008, we ran our first test using Google TV Ads. Although the holidays are our busiest time of year, I wasn't expecting to make much money. I simply wanted to test the system. And I was instantly blown away.

Traditional TV advertising, in my experience, required negotiating separate deals with individual networks or cable and satellite providers. This proved time-consuming and cumbersome and I never knew if I was getting as good a deal as the business down the street. Not to mention that I had to plan far in advance, pay up front, wait weeks to find out when and if my spots ran, and I couldn't make changes to my campaign without tons of work and extreme patience. I had given up on TV advertising after three expensive campaigns that provided only mediocre results.

So, when I stumbled across Google TV Ads, I was obviously intrigued. It seemed like this system would give me the opportunity to dip my toe back into the water of TV advertising without wasting a ton of time or committing to an obscene spend.

I setup a campaign in a few hours, uploaded three spots, and was on TV in about 48 hours total. By using a simple "how did you hear about us?" question during our online checkout process, I determined that I broke even on the three week campaign. This was amazing! Because our spots lie somewhere between direct response and brand building, it typically takes longer to build the frequency required to achieve that kind of result.

My small test in 2008 convinced me to run campaigns throughout all of 2009. I used the extensive reporting features within Google TV Ads to refine my campaigns periodically throughout the year. My TV advertising throughout 2009 produced revenue of approximately three times the advertising spend. Naturally, I see no end in sight to my TV advertising via the Google TV Ads platform.

I believe that advertising on Google TV Ads has greatly increased brand awareness for our store, Vat19.com. The amount of direct traffic to our website has more than doubled in the last year.

My company is small and I love the fact that I am able to administer my entire TV advertising program myself. My sales have increased three-fold in the past three years and undoubtedly, Google TV Ads has been an integral part of that success.

Posted by guest blogger Jamie Salvatori, Owner, Vat19.com

TV Ads Enable Vat19.com to Grow Sales and Web Traffic

Neha — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:18:00 +0000

I believe that advertising on Google TV Ads has greatly increased brand awareness for our store, Vat19.com. The amount of direct traffic to our website has more than doubled in the last year.

Posted by guest blogger Jamie Salvatori, Owner, Vat19.com

Check Out In-Stream Video Ads

Lauren Hoover-Gordon — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:28:00 +0000

If you've run television campaigns before, you know that sight, sound and motion can truly create meaningful connections between brands and customers. So we thought it would be useful to write about a complementary ad format observed by Neilsen to increase brand recall of TV ads by as much as 35%. Google enables you to extend the power of your TV campaign to audiences online by running in-stream video ads. Advertisers can run :15 or :30 second video ads on YouTube and over 90 partner sites across our network to reach engaged online video viewers. In-stream ads enable you to elevate video advertising to an interactive level by enabling click-throughs to designated landing pages. If your goal is to drive offline activity, don't worry: we've also read reports of increased offline response to premium online video advertising.

The unique value of in-stream is its ability to merge the benefits of TV ads and online advertising by providing an engaging experience that is clickable and more directly trackable. Leverage free tools like the Adwords Placement Tool or the YouTube Video Targeting Tool to find content that best reaches your defined audience and customize campaigns through geo-targeting, audience targeting, daypart limitations and enabling conversion tracking to drive and measure effective video impressions.

Sample of in-stream partner sites

Ready to get started? To learn even more about this ad format, we encourage you to view our recent webinar featuring the YouTube Video Targeting Tool which will guide you through the best ways to extend the reach of your TV campaigns through in-stream.

Posted by Andrew Stinger, Account Manager for Google TV Ads

In Conversation with Tennis Channel

Neha — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 21:46:00 +0000

With the French Open coming to an exciting close and Wimbledon just around the corner, it's certainly a busy time for our newest partners, Tennis Channel who are in the center of the action. We were lucky enough to grab a few minutes with Gary Herman, Senior Vice President of Ad Sales for Tennis Channel who gave us the scoop on Tennis Channel's programming, core audience, and why partnering with Google has been a good move.

Q: Why is a partnership with Google TV Ads strategic for Tennis Channel?

Gary: Google's TV ads platform creates a marketplace for online advertisers who might not have considered buying television before. No other online company has the breadth of advertisers, resources and credibility that Google brings to the table. Google's auction-based platform is a new way of buying media and we like the idea of staying ahead of the curve.

Q: What are some of the most exciting programs and content that advertisers can look forward to targeting on Tennis Channel?

Gary: Tennis Channel produces and airs more live, world class tennis tournaments than any other cable or broadcast channel in the US. Advertisers buying through Google TV Ads will have plenty of access to all this great content including the opportunity to buy ads during each of the tennis Grand Slams: The Australian Open (January), French Open, (May/June), Wimbledon prime time (June/July) and the US Open (September).

Q: Can you give us an overview of Tennis Channel's core audience?

Gary: Tennis Channel viewers represent the sweet spot of affluent customers. Our audience is balanced between men (57%) and women (43%), young people (two-thirds are under 50 and active) and of course tennis lovers (76% play tennis regularly).

According to the most recent Mendelsohn 2009 Affluent Survey, our average viewers' household income is $233k, the highest of any network featured in the study, and average home values are over $549k -- second only to Bloomberg Television. Our viewers love to travel, dine out, shop at high-end retailers, make online purchases and are early technology adopters.

Q: Given that your audience is amongst the higher end in television, what kinds of advertisers would Tennis Channel appeal to most?

Gary: Our network is ideal for advertisers targeting affluent men and women consumers in a programming environment that is family friendly with minimal commercial skipping and limited commercial clutter. Advertisers find value in knowing that their brand messages are seen by consumers with the disposable income to make purchases even in today's challenging economic times. Some of our key advertisers represent categories such as luxury cars, financial services, insurance, travel, credit cards, technology, pharmaceuticals, and health and beauty.

Q: Are you seeing a change in the way the TV industry is thinking about content, distribution and advertising? How has Tennis Channel innovated in these areas?

Gary: We like being in the sports programming business with television as the main screen; tennis looks great on a 42" high definition screen. The challenge for programmers and advertisers from our point of view, is staying relevant with audiences in a world where the average person receives over 5,000 branded messages per day and can get content on so many devices with different screen sized at any time of day. We know that tennis is an important part of our viewers' lives, and providing them with 24/7 tennis programming by default makes Tennis Channel extremely relevant to them. The clear benefit to our advertisers is that our viewers are more likely to be receptive to ad messages when those messages are aired during their favorite sports programming.

Q: What is something that people might find surprising about Tennis Channel, its content and/or its audience?

Gary: Many people are surprised to hear that there are as many tennis players today as golfers -- tennis is back in a big way and it's catching on with fans of all ages. As for our channel, eyebrows raise when fans realize that Tennis Channel not only airs match play, but we actually produce hundreds and hundreds of hours of live tennis from all over the world including ESPN2's coverage of the US Open Summer Series. There is never a dull moment in tennis, and we're there to catch it all.

Posted by Hana Chang, Strategic Partner Development Manager for Google TV Ads

Google TV Brings Innovation Into the Living Room

Neha — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:49:00 +0000

As you may have heard last week, Google announced the release of Google TV, an open source platform that will enable viewers to search and access all video content on their TVs. Content across live TV listings, DVR recordings, web-based video sites and the entire internet will be accessible through the television set.

While Google TV is completely separate from Google TV Ads, we see this new platform as an exciting innovation in television, solidifying Google's commitment to this space. We’re excited about the new possibilities this opens up for the TV world and hope as a company to continue pushing innovation across media.

To learn more about Google TV, please visit www.google.com/tv. There is a short video posted on this site which provides a high level overview of the platform.

Posted by Neha Mandal, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

Welcoming our Newest Teammates: Tennis Channel

Neha — Tue, 25 May 2010 23:28:00 +0000

We're happy to announce Tennis Channel as Google TV Ads' newest partner. The network is the premiere destination on TV for all things tennis, bringing a lot of value to advertisers, as it attracts a highly affluent audience across 28M homes and carries all major tournaments and grand slams, sometimes exclusively.

Advertisers can log into Google TV Ads today to target dayparts and programs on Tennis Channel, including premiere spots during major tournaments such as the upcoming French and US Opens. During tournaments, Tennis Channel opens up network access to millions of homes, reaching up to 50M homes during these times!

We hope our advertisers are as excited as we are to access even more targeted audience reach through our growing platform.

Posted by Neha Mandal, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

DISH and Google TV Ads Strengthen Partnership

Neha — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:34:00 +0000

For the past three years, DISH Network has been one of Google's strongest partners in the TV advertising space. Back in 2007, DISH embraced our emerging TV ads platform by signing on as our first partner and has since been an innovative thought leader with Google throughout the growth of this business.

We're happy to announce that we've renewed and strengthened our partnership with DISH Network and will continue to offer great inventory across over 95 networks on DISH. Through Google's TV Ads platform, advertisers can continue targeting audiences across networks like Animal Planet, CNN, MSNBC, NFL Network, TBS, USA and over 90 others. Stay on the lookout for more new features and targeting options coming soon to our platform!

Posted by Neha Mandal, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

Introducing the TV Ads Strategy guide

Neha — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 18:34:00 +0000

For many businesses, TV advertising is an entirely new medium that is both intriguing and seemingly intimidating. The most common questions we get from advertisers who are newer to TV revolve around how to strategically budget, target and measure TV campaigns.

In response to advertisers' feedback and questions, I'd like to introduce the TV Ads Strategy Guide, a comprehensive resource that aids advertisers in planning, creating and managing successful TV campaigns. Through simple examples and instruction, the guide walks through strategies advertisers might consider when building ads and campaigns. After reading through the guide, you'll have more information to answer questions like: How much do I need to spend? Is this the right medium for my business? What makes a good TV ad?

We hope this guide will be a helpful resource as you plan and launch successful TV campaigns that drive results!

Posted by Neha Mandal, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

Google TV Ads Power Users Series – Part 3 of 3

Lauren Hoover-Gordon — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:18:00 +0000

In our final installment of the Power Users series, we’ll cover advanced reporting and measurement capabilities of our platform. As you may know, Google TV Ads delivers precise reporting including impression counts, tuning data and cost metrics; this report type is called the ‘Played Spots Report.’ Beyond these data points, advertisers can also choose to include audience reporting metrics as well.

Our system merges aggregated demographic and psychographic information with viewership data from millions of anonymized set-top boxes to report on the audience composition for your ad airings. Audience metrics include Nielsen VPVH, household income, and category interest information amongst others. Easy to run reports detail the composition, or index for each metric whether or not you chose to target those specific metrics in your campaign. This allows you to see an overall picture of exactly who your ads reached or potentially can reach. Insider’s Tip: Selecting the audience measurement option while creating your ‘Played Spots Report’ will allow you to measure how many W25-54 are REALLY watching your ad, or how Project Runway indexes for consumers with certain interests such as photography, hiking, and over 30 others.

Another useful report type is the ‘Summary Report’ which allows you to analyze how well specific networks and programs deliver against an audience and your clearance goals. For instance, you can run a ‘Summary Report’ to find out which programs are delivering the highest VPVH for W25-54, or combine all played spots on ESPN to see how the overall HHI compares against all spots aired on Speed.

The last report and final tip we have for you, is the ‘Reach and Frequency Report.’ Insider’s Tip: Imagine how powerful it would be to understand not only the reach, but also the frequency of your TV campaigns over a given time frame. As seasoned TV buyers know, understanding how often you are reaching a given audience is as important in determining ad effectiveness as measuring reach. Are viewers motivated to visit your website or purchase from you after seeing your ad just once? Or perhaps the sales cycle is longer and repeat views are needed to move the needle. The ‘Reach and Frequency Report’ makes measuring this extremely easy, and can be viewed weekly or monthly to give you a sense of your creative penetration over the specified date range.

This brings us to the end of our Power Users series, we hope you have found these tips and tricks useful. As our product continues to develop and new product features arise, we’ll be sure to keep you posted and in the know.

Posted by Katie Mason, Account Manager for Google TV Ads

Google TV Ads Power Users Series – Part 2 of 3

Lauren Hoover-Gordon — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 22:02:00 +0000

We’re back with another installment of our power users series, where we unveil advanced features and tips that can help advertisers better manage and optimize their TV campaigns. Today, we’ll cover some newer features that are designed to give advertisers more control over where and how ads air within a given campaign. More control is always a good thing, right?

For those of you who have already run several Google TV Ads campaigns, you may have experienced certain campaigns being over-saturated on a couple of networks. Because our auction optimizes for efficiency and value, advertisers may find that their campaign delivers more frequency on a few networks rather than spreading evenly over all of your selected targets. There are now two advanced settings that allow more control over reach and frequency. Within the ‘Settings’ tab of your campaigns, select ‘I prefer my ads aired more often on the national networks’ which will direct the system to try winning spots on our largest national partners first. Note that with this setting, you are opting for a larger reach rather than frequency or efficiency.

The second advanced setting that falls into this bucket is also within the ‘Settings’ tab. Choosing ‘I prefer my ads spread more evenly across networks and times’ will attempt to optimize for reach within your targets. Rather than allowing the auction to accumulate as many of the most efficient spots as possible, this setting assumes that you would rather pay a bit more to have a larger reach across a more varied set of networks and dayparts.

Often times, advertisers want to target specific programs, but have strict daypart restrictions; a situation that was previously tricky to solve for as it required manual blocking of programs that fall within undesirable dayparts. We recently released a feature that makes this much easier and more efficient for advertisers. Just like you can select flights dates for a campaign, you can now choose to simply block specific days and times, also through the ‘Settings’ tab of any campaign. Once you’ve blocked time periods at the campaign level, you are free to target any networks and programs you wish, and our system will ensure that you never air during restricted times!

Finally, you can now block Paid Programming uniformly across an entire campaign. This may not always be the best option if Paid Programming is efficient and produces a positive ROI on your campaigns. However, if you know such content is ineffective, you can now universally block that content from any campaign within the ‘Settings’ tab.

Now that you’re armed with more controls and better targeting capabilities, we hope that you will achieve even greater success using Google TV Ads. Check back next week with our third and final installment of the Power Users series.

Posted by Katie Mason, Associate Account Manager for Google TV Ads

Google TV Ads Power Users Series – Part 1 of 3

Lauren Hoover-Gordon — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:03:00 +0000

As we say goodbye to the first quarter of 2010 and usher in the new season, we'd like to share our latest product developments to help advanced users make the most of their campaigns. In this first installment of our three part series, we’ll give you the scoop on using our program and audience targeting tools to build and optimize effective campaigns. Are you a Google TV Ads power user? If not, you will be by the end of this series!

If you’re familiar with Google TV Ads’ program targeting tool, you know that advertisers can conduct keyword searches to find relevant media across 98+ cable networks. For example, searching for ‘beauty’ or specific shows like ‘Seinfeld’ will produce a list of targets related to that query. Insider’s tip: Searching for a topic will not only produce a list of exact matches and broad concept targets, you’ll also see ‘related programs’ for each suggested program (as shown below). This advanced feature looks at demographic information to calculate what other programs will reach a similar audience to the shows you’ve selected.

Why is this so powerful? If you’ve identified a list of targets that are effective but want to extend the reach of your ads across similar audiences, the related programs feature will do the work for you in identifying what other targets you should consider. Our system draws from an anonymized sample of millions of set-top-boxes to aggregate viewer demographics and show you exactly where else your audience can be reached.

Similarly, our audience targeting tool helps advertisers select and target a customized TV schedule to reach their specified audience. Simply specify the audience you want to reach by selecting demographic/psychographic traits and interests that characterize your desired audience. For example, searching for ‘women aged 25-34 interested in running’ will yield a list of targets that reach this audience in the highest concentrations.

Insider’s tip: We’ve recently integrated Nielsen’s PRIZM segments into the audience targeting tool. PRIZM is a customer segmentation system which places consumers into 66 segments based on demographics, lifestyles, shopping patterns and media preferences. Now, you can identify the segments which describe your desired audience best and our system will find the media being watched by that audience in the highest concentrations. Using PRIZM segments allows you to search for media that appeals to a very multi-dimensional and specific audience.

Stay tuned for next week’s segment which will cover campaign management shortcuts and more insider tips.

Posted by Christina Duss, Senior Account Manager for Google TV Ads

SlateV.com Explores Google TV Ads

Lauren Hoover-Gordon — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:37:00 +0000

We always talk about how easy launching national TV campaigns is with Google. But you don't have to take our word for it. Seth Stevenson of Slate recently posted a video chronicling his experience using our platform to launch a national TV campaign advertising SlateV.com. Stevenson shows how he was able to launch targeted media from his living room, driving viewers straight to the advertised website in the ad.

Watch the video below to see exactly what happened.

Posted by Neha Mandal, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

Introducing the new Ad Creation Marketplace

Lauren Hoover-Gordon — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:05:00 +0000

Platforms like Google TV Ads and YouTube are making it easier for business of all sizes to connect with consumers via video. But for many businesses, creating an ad can be an expensive hurdle to advertising on national television, radio, and online video. That's why we built the Ad Creation Marketplace (ACM), a tool that connects businesses with talented production specialists who can produce a professional TV, online video or audio ad across a range of budgets starting as low as $250.

Creating high quality ads has never been easier or more affordable. While the ACM has been available for some time through Google AdWords, we've completely redesigned it to make it easier for you to browse sample work and connect with specialists who best fit your needs.

To get started, visit the ACM and specify your budget range and ad category using the filters at the top. Then browse through sample videos created by ACM vendors in the past which will give you a sense of the style and price you can expect from each vendor.

After you've found the specialist(s) you like, click the "Contact vendor" button to start a conversation and discuss terms and project details. Make sure to tell the vendor up front that you're new to TV Ads and that you want to use the Google promotional credit. Once the vendor has completed your ad, you will receive an email with the finished ad. In just a few clicks, you can put this ad on television or online through Google TV Ads and other YouTube ad formats like Promoted Videos.

To celebrate the launch of the new ACM, Google TV Ads is offering a limited time discount on any ad created through the ACM that has an initial invoice price of $300 or more. That means you can create a video ad for as little as $100! (View promotion terms and conditions here).

We hope you'll find the Ads Creation Marketplace a useful tool that makes it easier for your business to produce professional quality ads.

Posted by David Wurtz, Product Manager, Google TV Ads

Track cost per call data through Google TV Ads

Aly Makishima — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:37:00 +0000

Advertisers can now automatically receive cost-per-call data through Google TV Ads for television campaigns that utilize Google supplied toll-free phone numbers. This free new feature is designed to give TV advertisers access to richer performance data which allows more effective optimization based on real-time call data.

The system tracks incoming calls and matches each call down to the network, daypart and even program level. Advertisers will find these metrics in their campaign 'Targets' tab which reports data like "Live Inquiries," "Drag Inquiries" (calls that come in a significant time after an ad has aired) and cost-per-inquiry. Our system takes into account the number of impressions, network, and time of day for each ad to help match calls as accurately as possible. In addition, the algorithm has been designed to predict call response with increasing accuracy as it learns from your data over time.

(Click on image for a full-size version)

To get started right away, log into AdWords, create a TV campaign and sign-up for free 866 phone numbers in the 'phone numbers' tab of your campaign. Then, designate which ad creative corresponds to which telephone number in the 'Ads' tab of your campaign.

(Click on image for a full-size version)

That's it! Within a few hours, advertisers will see data appearing in the cost-per-Inquiry columns in the 'Targets' tab of each campaign. This feature should allow advertisers to drive even better results with TV advertising.

Posted by Robert Murray and Bozhena Bidyuk for Google TV Ads

Upcoming Webinar: Google TV Ads Recipes for Success

Aly Makishima — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:01:00 +0000

On Thursday, January 28th, Google TV Ads will be hosting a free webinar for businesses and advertisers who wish to learn how Google TV Ads' smarter approach to TV can drive real results for businesses of all sizes.

During this webinar, we'll discuss:
- How to use cutting edge technology to target your audience on TV
- Measurement techniques to track your return on investment
- Ways to reach viewers both on TV and across the web
- How four advertisers experienced success with Google TV Ads

Google TV Ads Recipes for Success
Thursday, January 28th at 11:00AM PT / 2:00PM ET

Posted by Neha Mandal, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

Learn how to make a TV commercial in 5 easy steps

Aly Makishima — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:41:00 +0000

As a small business owner, you might feel that television advertising is out of your reach. But with Google TV Ads, you can easily and affordably make a TV ad, plan a campaign, and reach your customers through the power of television. But how do you actually go about creating an ad? An expert in the field has some advice.

Jon Bond, co-founder and co-Chairman at creative agency kirshenbaum bond senecal + partners, has spent many years advising clients on their advertising campaigns. His agency had its first acclaim with a groundbreaking advertising campaign for Kenneth Cole and has helped establish Snapple as a household name with the launch of Snapple’s “100% natural” advertising campaign.

In the video below, Jon gives advice to business owners on how to create the right message for their television ad. Check out the video below or on the Google TV Ads YouTube brand channel at www.youtube.com/googletvads.

Posted by Deeksha Hebbar, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

FragranceNet.com Talks TV on MSNBC

Aly Makishima — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:59:00 +0000

Last Sunday, FragranceNet.com founder Jason Apfel was front and center on MSNBC's "Your Business," a weekly program focusing on small businesses and entrepreneurs. Jason spoke about the growth of his retail business and how Google TV Ads has made TV advertising accessible, affordable and highly effective for FragranceNet. Last year, Jason shared even more impressive details of his company's success with television which we chronicled as a Google TV Ads success story.

Catch Jason's television debut on MSNBC here.

Posted by Deeksha Hebbar, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

Google TV Ads: A Year in Review

Neha — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:22:00 +0000

2009 has been a break through year for our advertisers, inventory partners, and the TV Ads platform. We have worked with thousands of advertisers to target TV campaigns more effectively, and our network has grown to include 17 inventory partners. Google TV Ads exceeded 100 billion served impressions in 2009, as we continue to engineer solutions for better targeted and more relevant ads. I wanted to take a moment to reflect on an exciting year and thank our partners and advertisers who have enabled each success.

In the last year we established key partnerships with industry leaders to bring more inventory and technology driven measurement and targeting capabilities to TV and video advertisers. Here are some highlights:

In 2009, our list of inventory partners grew to a total of 17 with the addition of GSN, CBS College Sports, Outdoor Channel, Sky Angel, MGM HD, and AETN's History International. With the addition of these partners, advertisers can now target nearly 100 national cable networks right from their computers.
Uncovering the right media to reach a targeted audience is now easier for advertisers thanks to the integration of Nielsen's PRIZM segmentation data. Advertisers can choose from 66 PRIZM segments as well as demographic and interest data to find the right audience profile and generate a list of targeted shows and dayparts that most effectively reach that audience.
Our users asked for a simpler way to build targeted and effective campaigns and in response, we unveiled the Campaign Builder tool. Simply select desired audience attributes to generate customizable campaigns in minutes, complete with efficient and effective bid suggestions.
Data, data, data: advertisers and agencies want more robust data sources to optimize their TV buys. To deliver on this need, we partnered with TiVo to license their anonymized set-top-box data and in 2010, we're working with TiVo to provide our customers with even more second-by-second set-top-box data to measure campaigns more effectively.
We were especially excited to unveil Google TV Ads Online in April 2009 as an extension of our TV platform, allowing advertisers to deploy their ads across YouTube and 100+ partner video sites. Advertisers can now truly bridge the gap between online and offline screens and place a seamless video buy across platforms.

And finally, amongst the thousands of advertisers who have run more accountable ads with Google TV Ads are Coldwell Banker and chickdowntown.com who shared their success stories with us in 2009. Coldwell Banker needed a measurable way to target real estate lovers across all of cable without placing hundreds of separate media buys. They were able to achieve this through the Google TV Ads platform, effectively driving 150M real estate aficionados to their YouTube brand channel.

Chickdowntown.com, an online retail boutique, had tried TV before but found it to be cumbersome, insufficiently targeted, and expensive. They tried TV again this time with Google TV Ads and ran contextually targeted campaigns that fit within their budgets and brought a 25% increase in website traffic within just the first month!

It is less than three years since our beta launch. Thanks to the advertisers and inventory partners who have joined with us to make TV advertising better, our platform is now executing millions of more accountable advertising transactions. This is still only the beginning of our commitment to our partners to deliver better TV and video advertising, and we could not be more excited for 2010.

Posted by Mike Steib, Director of Google TV Ads and Emerging Platforms

Introducing our newest inventory partner: A&E Television Networks

Neha — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:56:00 +0000

We're happy to welcome A&E Television Networks (AETN), one of the largest cable programmers in the US, as our newest inventory partner. Through our partnership with AETN, advertisers will be able to target History International through the Google TV Ads system and reach over 55M homes nationwide.

Hailed as one of the fastest growing cable networks, History International brings cutting edge content focused on historical events through shows such as Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire, Battle360, History's Turning Points, and Lost Worlds -- to name just a few. Advertisers can target exciting shows that bring a core audience of educated and affluent males aged 25-64 who are interested in historical events and global affairs.

A&E Television Networks joins our growing partner list including DISH Network, NBC Universal, Hallmark Channel and nearly a dozen others, enabling advertisers to target 98+ networks through Google TV Ads. To learn more, please visit us at www.google.com/tvads.

Posted by: John Saroff, Strategic Partner Development, Google TV Ads

Building TV campaigns just got easier

Aly Makishima — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:46:00 +0000

What if you could have a custom TV campaign created for you in minutes that optimally reaches your target audience? We're pleased to unveil Campaign Builder, a new Google TV Ads feature which enables advertisers to create targeted campaigns in just a few minutes.

(Click on the image for a full-size version)

To get started, navigate to Campaign Builder underneath the "Add Targets" tab of any TV campaign. Then specify your target audience demographics, interests, and/or Nielsen PRIZM clusters. Campaign Builder will produce a comprehensive list of dayparts and TV programs that reach your specified audience in the highest concentrations. What's more, the tool will automatically set strategic bids to increase your likelihood of winning optimal targets and spending your budget. After that, one click is all it takes to port the selected targets and bids into a newly created campaign that can begin running immediately.

Could creating effective and strategic TV campaigns get any easier? Log in today to give Campaign Builder a try.

Posted by David Wurtz, Product Manager, Google TV Ads