Mountain View, California — Google Inc., seeking to spread its wings beyond Internet advertising, on Wednesday said that it has endorsed one of the biggest partnerships Google TV Ads has been waiting for, is to administer television ads for several DirecTV, the largest U.S. satellite TV provider. Internet search engine leader Google will be serving ads on its cable broadcasts of programs such as Fox Business and G4, the companies said, giving Google’s ad service a significant jump in potential viewers.
Google TV Ads, which already has ad alliance with Dish Network, NBC Universal, Hallmark Network, Bloomberg Television, Game Show Network, Outdoor Channel, and CBS College Sports, has now added several DirecTV channels, which is turning over some of its national satellite ad arsenal across Bloomberg TV, Chiller, Centric, Current TV, Fit TV, Fox Business, Fuel, G4, Ovation, Sleuth and TV Guide to the Google TV Ads platform across all dayparts, including primetime, the companies said Wednesday in a statement.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
With the mysterious deal with DirecTV done, plus the existing deal Google TV Ads has with the other major satellite TV provider, Dish Network, the search engine giant will be able to reach as many as 30 million households through their set-top boxes, says Google’s director of emerging platforms, Mike Steib in a blog post.
Mountain View’s search engine giant Google, which generates 96% of its $6.82 billion in revenue from Internet advertising last quarter, is spreading out to new markets to reduce its reliance on the Web. With the new alliance, Google TV Ads are believed to reach the 18.7 million US households that get broadcasts from DirecTV.
“We are excited to partner with Google and embark on this initiative together,” said Bob Riordan, Senior Vice President, DirecTV advertising sales, in a statement. “Google TV Ads is an excellent advertising tool and will be a tremendous complement to DIRECTV’s existing suite of innovative assets.”
Overall, this association brings Google’s reach to about 30 million satellite homes, extending TV advertising efforts that Google began in 2007 through an agreement with Dish Network Corp.
“In the television space, there is a vast opportunity for improvement through technology,” said Steib. “During the past three years, our product has evolved from a tool to place an ad on TV to a sophisticated tool for targeting and buying audiences at a scale and a level of specificity that has not been possible before.”
The association comes as Internet search engine titan Google is out to widen its kingdom to the living room with an aspiring new service that lets people mesh television viewing with surfing the Web.
“Google TV,” developed in association with technology titans Sony, Intel and Logitech, blends the freedom of the Internet with television programming.
Google executives vowed that their TV platform unleashed in San Francisco in May will succeed where offerings such as Apple TV have foundered.
Google can help TV advertisers cater to specific audiences. For example, it can help companies customize ads for high-income women 18 to 49 who may be shopping for insurance, Steib said. This process will help DirecTV magnify its advertising sales and help lure companies that have not previously bought spots on television, he said.
“Historically at DirecTV, we have been a little under-penetrated in ad sales, and frankly I still think that is a huge strategic opportunity for us,” DirecTV Chief Executive Officer Mike White said on the company’s conference call last week. DirecTV, based in El Segundo (Los Angeles County), does not break out its advertising sales, only saying the unit grew almost 20 percent in the second quarter.