Google Fiber Brings Highly Targeted Ads To TV

Google is going to start bringing the same sort of targeted ads that it offers on the Web to the television sets of Google Fiber customers. The company has announced a trial program for Google Fiber in Kansas City that will deliver ads from local businesses that are based on the subscribers’ location, current programming and viewing history.

If this move is adopted by rival cable companies, it could represent a massive change in the way that television ads are viewed and sold. Although TV ads are a major aspect of the marketing campaigns for many auto dealerships and manufacturers, it can sometimes be difficult to gauge their effectiveness. Considering the fact that most televisions are now connected to the Internet, the possibility for a more granular and accurate way to measure viewers and to advertise to them presents itself, and Google is capitalizing on this ability with its new initiative.

Traditionally, advertising on television happens both at a national level, where everyone sees the same commercials, and at an affiliate level, where a local network affiliate or the pay-TV provider that a user subscribes to is able to include local ads, which are often for narrowly geographically-targeted businesses such as car dealerships.

Google’s new initiative will change the way that it handles that local ad time. “Fiber TV ads will be digitally delivered in real-time and can be matched based on geography, the type of program being shown (e.g., sports or news), or viewing history,” Google explains.

Therefore, instead of having ads pre-set for a time on a channel, Google will deliver targeted ads that are specific to each viewer that is watching at that time. Companies can buy access in a certain number of impressions, as with Web advertising. Another interesting detail is that the ads will work on time-shifted viewing, so if a viewer chooses to DVR a program and watches it later, they may see an ad that is specifically relevant to the time that they watch it as opposed to seeing an ad that is tied to the date that the program was initially aired.

One concern that is raised is about privacy. On the Web, many people are uncomfortable with the fact that products they have been viewing subsequently show up as ads on other websites. It’s possible that having this same type of tracking occurring on their television will be seen as negative by some subscribers. However, Google says that viewers can choose to opt-out of seeing ads based on their viewing history from their Fiber TV settings, although this doesn’t necessary mean that the data isn’t being collected.

Advertisers in the auto industry and many other sectors will certainly be interested in Google’s pilot program, however, it can only work for consumers who get their programming through a Google Fiber box. Although Google has plans for expansion into additional areas of the United States, at this point its availability remains quite limited. Regardless, considering the possibility for driving down the cost of TV advertising while increasing targeting abilities, it’s expected that many marketers will be intrigued by the announcement.