« Politics, Religion, Race, and Paid Search | Main | Would Anyone Pay to Network on Facebook? »

May 1, 2008

Google Flips Switch on TV Ads, Spot Runner Gets Granular

As expected, Google has begun offering TV ad production and placement services to all AdWords advertisers. The public launch indicates the company has partially resolved the inventory problems that plagued the program in its early months, though it's still only pushing ads to customers of its DISH and Astound cable partners. Google's demo, viewable here, shows how advertisers can choose programs and networks, fix day parts, secure production services, and schedule campaigns.

With the launch, advertisers will be in a better position to analyze and compare the relative merits of Google's system with competing offerings, most notably Spot Runner. Spot Runner, which hired Joanne Bradford and Marc Rosenthal in recent months, is going after national advertisers whose budgets were too small for TV in the broadcast boom years. A client example the company shared last month is that of a purveyor of home power generators. "When we see a storm rolling in, we turn on their campaigns," CEO Nick Grouf said.

While Google is giving marketers the option of uploading spots or contracting jobs, Spot Runner has taken the tack of proactively packaging video ads for specific business types. You can see its library here, including an interesting set of political advertising templates I hadn't noticed before visiting today.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at May 1, 2008 4:13 PM

Digg! Digg this! Add to del.icio.us StumbleUpon Toolbar Stumble It!

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://post.blog.searchenginestrategies.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/13268

Comments

Great article! I guess the two companies have quite different approaches. Also, it seems also that Spot Runner's market share is a lot bigger since cable providers reach more viewers than Google's Dish Network. You can also review some other differences at this blog: http://www.bestrank.com/blog/google-tv-vs-spot-runner-120/

Posted by: SEO San Diego at May 29, 2008 12:02 AM

Post a comment




Remember Me?