New York — The major rivals in the browser war may still be Internet Explorer and Firefox, but now we have a new customer who is excited by to promote the recently launched Chrome browser through new ad possibilities at YouTube and Facebook: Google. Both YouTube and Facebook users began to notice promotions for Chrome pop up left and right.
Google is promoting its browser on YouTube. (Credit: Google)
“Chrome ads have also been sighted on Facebook’s Boggle-like Scramble game.”
Ads for Chrome appear on the Scramble game at Facebook. (Credit: Facebook)
Given how much Google wants Chrome to succeed, this combination makes it look like the search giant has a fair amount of confidence in social media. Both of these venues have plenty of unsold, low-cost inventories, so Google probably is not spending Super Bowl-level marketing money on them.
When Google released Chrome last September the company also promoted the browser on some of the most prized real estate around, its own search home page.
Chrome ads also ultimately demonstrate the fact that people can advertise on YouTube. Converting YouTube’s popularity into revenue is a top priority at Google, and the company is claiming some progress if not actually big money.
“YouTube is emerging as a key component of our display strategy,” said Jonathan Rosenberg, senior vice president of product management, in discussing Google’s fourth-quarter earnings last week.
Chief Executive Eric Schmidt added: “We have started three new video formats in the last four to five months…for advertising. Each of them is having some traction. It is fair to say that we have not found a single solution that really drives revenue widely, and we are certainly working on that.”
So, being able to promote Chrome basically for free on YouTube demonstrates both the power and ambition that Google has built up as it branched out from its search-engine roots. It also displays that the company is getting more hard-nosed about its business, no longer relying just on word of mouth to promote itself.