Google Prepares Video Ads For Search Results
Advertisers will be given the option of running video links under the traditional text advertising that runs alongside search results…
“In a bid to improve the presentation and thus click-ability of their ads, Google has started testing out click-to-play video ads on some of its search results’ pages…”
Google on Friday took another step away from its history as a minimalist provider of relevant search results, said it would for the first time, starting next week, advertisers will be given the option of running video links under the traditional text advertising that runs alongside search results.
“Visual ads, long absent from Google’s search results, opened on the site in the form of expandable video ads today.”
Along with the One Box ads atop search results, and the right sidebar of ads, Google will place another monetization component on those pages.
The new links would be a box with a plus sign next to the words “watch video.” When the box is clicked, a window would drop down with the video playing inside.
When clicked, the symbols will expand to reveal a video ad that can be played manually by the searcher.
Currently, the ads offer little more than a link and a blurb, but soon web surfers will be able to watch commercials, movie trailers and other clips at the click of an icon.
According to Saul Hansell at the New York Times’ Bits blog, Google has begun experimenting with video ads on some search results pages. “Some” is the operative word here –- I have been conducting a bunch of searches and have not spotted one yet.
These newfangled ads will have images, interactive maps and other features. These visual ads will turn up in video and image searches. Add it up and Google is putting display ads in its search results. Maybe these video/interactive things will be in snazzy formats, but it is essentially a display ad. If this works its likely display-type ads will make it to its text-based search results.
A Google spokesman said the new offering is a test and would only be used with a “small percentage” of searches.
Details of the move appeared on the Bits Blog. Google VP Marissa Mayer described why after all of their success with text ads that they needed to take this step:
“The big insight of Google was not text ads; it was that the ads should be conducive to the format,” Mayer said. “We were doing text-based search that was all textual. Visual ads do not work in that format.”
According to NYT’s Bits, users will hardly notice the change since the videos will be displayed only after the user clicks a small button with a plus sign. Google’s Mayer, explained that on a search results page containing images in addition to text, text ads are simply not as effective.
The eyes of users automatically gravitate to the images more than the text, she said. Now that Google’s main search results pages include more images, video links and other elements, it is therefore more appropriate, she argued, to have corresponding advertising formats.
She also said that the company is also developing other formats, including interactive maps, adding thumbnails of photos to video ads and combining text and image ads.
Advertisers would bid for video links the same way they bid for keywords for text links, the spokesman said. Google, however, would only charge advertisers for one click, even if a visitor clicks on the video and text links.
The change gives opportunity for advertisers to focus more on expressing what their company or product is about rather than simply driving traffic to their sites.
The new ads will mark the first time the company has offered video on Google sites. The search engine has only offered video as an option to advertisers on the sites of Google partners.
“It is the end of what was once considered one of Google’s major strengths, and opens the doors for up-and-comers to go back to Google’s original Spartan approach to search,” Mashable editor Adam Ostrow commented.
Online video holds huge potential as an advertising vehicle. Ads today are normally run before a video shows on entertainment sites and Web portals. However, a number of companies are experimenting with delivering ads in the middle or at end of content, clickable videos, and other alternatives.
While adding video ads does not pose any technical challenges, Google wants to monitor its impact on users of the site before committing to broader deployment. “We want to understand how users interact with these types of ads,” the spokesman said.
Online video ad spending will double from just under $800 million in 2007 to $1.6 billion this year, and will hit $4.3 billion in 2011, according to researcher eMarketer. The total online advertising market will hit $50 billion by 2011, according to Yankee Group.
In December, nearly 141 million U.S. Internet users watched more than 10 billion videos, according to ComScore. Video lovers watched an average of 3.4 hours of video during the month, representing a 34% gain since the beginning of 2007. The average online video lasted 2.8 minutes, and the average viewer watched 72 videos.
Google is in a position where they may feel a pressing need for better ad performance. Between a small slip in their Q4 2007 financials, and Microsoft ready to raise the Jolly Roger and pillage Yahoo, there is probably no small amount of The Fear wafting through the Googleplex these days.