“Microsoft’s Silverlight player is all set to make big progress in advertising power from Google.”
San Francisco — Google on Tuesday said that its recently acquired DoubleClick technology can now be utilize to dispense video ads into NBC’s online coverage of the Olympics in Beijing.
The advertising success stems from DoubleClick technology lately adapted to work with Silverlight 2 video platform software made by Microsoft, an arch-rival of Google, which NBC Universal plans to power its online 2008 Olympics coverage using a player based on Silverlight 2.
Google said that the Silverlight ad capability, called DoubleClick In-Stream, will be used to deliver video ads using Flash, RealMedia, and Windows Media technology. In-Stream also can show static ads within video, which Microsoft and NBC concluded was the best approach for live video.
“We are pleased to see the deal DoubleClick has made to enable customers such as NBCOlympics.com to take advantage of Silverlight to provide compelling packages to their advertisers,” Scott Guthrie, a vice president in Microsoft’s .NET Developer Division, said in a release.
“Microsoft has always had a strong keenness to working closely with partners and the industry to enable them to leverage our tools and platform to deliver great user experiences,” said Guthrie.
Google said NBC Universal Digital Media (NBCOlympics.com) will be among the first Web sites to serve up video ads in Silverlight 2 environments via the DoubleClick In-Stream video advertising tool to people watching shows on the Internet. Silverlight is Microsoft’s intended response to Adobe Systems Inc.’s Flash technology.
This deal will offer new “catalog” for advertisers within 2,500 hours’ worth of videos that will run as part of NBC’s coverage of the Olympics, Google said.
“With hundreds of advertisers, multiple platforms and large site traffic spikes, we needed to work with a partner that could provide an integrated, scalable, robust solution,” said NBC digital media vice president Steven Gold.
DoubleClick already integrates ads into video watched online using Flash, Real Media, and Windows Media software.
NBC Universal, already a DoubleClick customer, was optimistic about the Sliverlight support. “Thanks to DoubleClick, In-Stream’s new support for Silverlight 2, we are able to monetize our groundbreaking online-video coverage on the same platform we already use for display and mobile advertising. This lets our sales and operations teams work together really efficiently,” Gold said in a statement.
“By associating DoubleClick to work with Silverlight 2, we can make it possible for clients to create unique entertainment and advertising experiences without burdening their workload or creating new complex processes, said Google product manager Ari Paparo.
“Google enhanced its power in online advertising in March with the completion of its takeover of online ad-targeting titan DoubleClick.”
However, Mashable blogger Don Reisinger said in a post that the Silverlight deal brings up lot of questions about Microsoft’s own ability in online advertising platform — especially in light of the fact that Google’s recent online advertising deal with Yahoo Inc. played a role in the failure of Microsoft’s attempted takeover of Yahoo.
“Does it not hurt just a little to know that Google is the leader in the Silverlight advertising space before Microsoft has even come across the surface?” Reisinger wrote in a response to Guthrie’s statement.
Arnold Zafra, another blogger at Search Engine Journal, observed in his post that the deal to support Silverlight is part of an ongoing effort by DoubleClick to help its clients maximize their advertising inventories through various types of content on video and mobile channels. But he also questioned the potential fallout on Microsoft’s own advertising operations.
“One could not help but wonder,” Zafra wrote, “why Microsoft is not utilizing Silverlight 2 to serve video ads coming from its advertising inventory.” Or, he added, why Microsoft did not foresee that Silverlight would be a viable avenue for serving up ads.
“Microsoft has so awfully wishes to catch up on Google in terms of its advertising business,” Zafra wrote — and yet, he said, here the company is, letting Google use one of its own products against it.
Reisinger added that for Microsoft, simply watching Google form advertising deals using its technology might turn out to be a catalyst for ramping up its online advertising efforts. And, he said, “If this is not the catalyst Microsoft needs, I do not know what is.”
Microsoft is “not only being boot out of the advertising space all over the Web, but now it is now being booted out of advertising on its own platform without even harnessing its power to fight back,” Reisinger wrote.
“Microsoft’s very own platform is already being hijacked by its biggest competitor and it better move fast if it does not want to be pushed out of that advertising space too.”