Google cashes in at television upfronts

Google crashed the weeklong television "upfronts" Thursday, getting commitments from advertising agencies to place spots on Google TV Ads.

Hollywood Reporter notes this is the first time Google has sold airtime during the upfronts, when advertisers and marketers gather in New York to check out what the television networks--including CBS, publisher of this Web site--have in store for us this fall. (Check out Jimmy Kimmel's hilarious monologue if you haven't yet.)

Google TV Ads allows advertisers to upload an ad to Google and choose where they would like to have it shown through partnerships with several different cable and satellite networks. Just like Google's AdWords system, advertisers can make very detailed adjustments to how and when their ads are shown.

According to the report, Google's new friends haven't decided exactly where they will spend their dollars; they've only agreed that they'll spend a certain chunk of money--as much as $1 million in some cases--on Google TV Ads this year. Google has been attempting to expand beyond Internet advertising for a while, trying Google Audio Ads and Google Print Ads for a while before shutting down both programs earlier this year.

[cablespots]

They got agreements for ad spends. That doesn't mean the money's in the bank. If the most they received from a single source is $1M, then they have merely gotten a handful of pledges, mainly small amounts. No doubt those who did pledge money were a.) fellow tech companies, and b.) afraid that they would be left out without the supposed Google cache'. What they offer isn't economical, and is limited to the networks where they have an agreement - a satellite company, a couple of national nets, and one small local cable system. This Google TV effort is going the way of their print and radio, no doubt. <br /><br />Better to spend ad money at a real agency like Cheap-TV-Spots.com - they've been around for a long time, they know the business, and they're entrepreneur-friendly.