What is Digg?62 Comments
- iluvatar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+37I'm worried that if Google found a way to send me TV ads based on my search history I would see nothing but commercials for the Spice channel...
- roastedbagel, on 10/12/2007, -5/+35Pinky...are you thinking what I'm thinking....?
- OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -7/+30Eric Schmidt is wrong. We don't want to see ANY ads.
- infradead, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16I was thinking about this a while ago, so if I'd published I coulda scooped zdnet ;) My thinking went something like this:
Google is collecting an insane amount of profile information on people who use its services. Gmail, your search results, what stuff you buy via Froogle, where you go if you look it up on Google Maps, which sites you visit, etc. Good for AdWords, better yet for TV advertising.
Some Google engineers were tasked about a year ago (sorry, can't find link) to pack as many servers into a shipping container as they could. Assuming they don't want to target the ISP market, what is it good for? Drop these server-crates in neighbourhoods around the country, and you overcome the inherent problem of targetted ad delivery via a network -- it doesn't scale very well if you're sending ads from a centralised location.
Finally, Google sometime needs to start making serious income. It has plenty of cash from selling shares, but sooner or later you need revenue or the party is over. Just imagine how high-fiving nuts-bonkers the marketing people will go for targetted TV ads. They will pay and pay and pay.
Oh, and btw -- Google is a top-53kr3t govt agency funded by the NSA to spy on everyone. But that's another story ;-) - zforrester, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18a natural progression for Google
Targeted adds means more income from advertisements (good for business) and less crap you don't care about (good for people)
Interesting times ahead - RichPowers, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16I'd click Google ads, but for some reason AdBlock, well, blocks them :)
And thanks to my Tivo, I rarely see any ads. (Unless they involve the BK King because those are hysterical!) - cliffzdude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10So when I watch tv it'll be full of ads for beer, steak, and easy women.
Cool. - jdavid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8there was never money in search on the internet, it has always been advertising
- kypen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Hopefully as a Comcast customer I will finally stop seeing Comcast ads. Hopefully they will stop sending me 'deals' for digital phone when I don't even have, nor want, a landline (they are aware of this from a phone call). I hate that *****.
- Crypty, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6The problem I have with these targeted ads is what if I'm on my late night porn browse. Then a friend/family comes over and turns on my TV and sees a non stop flow of girls gone wild and natural male enhancement commercials.
- bjorkbjorkbjork, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Goergiecasey: "Hmm.. are Google a search company now or advertising??"
That's like asking "is TV about producing programs or selling advertising"?
The client/customer relationship only occurs where money changes hands. In broadcast, non-subscription TV, our "eyeballs" are the products that are sold to the advertisers. Programming is just a tool to harvest eyeballs that can be sold to the highest bidder. - databasecowboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4He may be right about seeing so many ads that aren't targeted to the individual watching the program... but can he really change that? Judging by the whacky ads I get on gmail, I'd think not.
Here's some examples:
a friend from Canada sends an email about a news item that shows how some Southern state has in it's constitution that an athiest cannot hold a gov't position or be seen as a credible witness in a trial -- the ads are for federal jobs and disco lights!?
a friend writes to tell me about some great Web 2.0 podcasts -- the ads: Comedians for Any Event and Hire a Magician!?
Email from Google regarding a software submission -- the ads: Missed an Episode: Download your favorite episodes to watch at any time!
I enjoy reading the ads in gMail only because they are so non-linear. It's like it's generated by Zippy the Pinhead! - airship, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I would like a link I could click on at any time during a TV show that would say this:
"The network is making 32 cents from this show by delivering commericals about tampons and erectile disfunction into your brain. If you would like to PAY 32 cents to watch this show without commercials, please click this link." You should also be able to set your viewing/TiVO schedule to "with/without commercials", which would just dock your account accordingly. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4If I watched TV, this story would interest me.
- chriskzoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Funny, Bill Gates already had this idea a while back in an interview he gave with Donny Deutsch. He talked about advertising based on markets (i.e. location, etc). rather than buuying ads based on viewer demographics. This way you are not just advertising to the entire audience of Seinfeld, you can work your metrics so that you are now targeting Seinfeld viewers that live in area X. Or you can advertise on local football games, or other perfectly valid places to advertise that large ad dollars might not go into, but can be a value add.
- bjorkbjorkbjork, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3too bad microsoft isn't nimble enough to implement this before google does.
- pwallroth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"When you watch the television you see ads that are clearly not targeted for you." Damnit I hate it when the ads i'm watching aren't motivating me enough to spend more money I don't have.
- Bob042, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3So, when can I get AdBlock for my TV? Guess it's time to get an HTPC...
- ripberge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Your examples tend to assume that TV audiences are very homogeneous, when in fact the reality of the situation is quite the opposite. NFL football may attract a pretty stereotypically male audience, but most other TV audiences are far more diverse. What ads should I show on Saturday Night Live? On American Idol? It gets a lot tougher then.
No doubt Schmidt is right on this subject. I think the real debate is whether or not Google can revolutionize the TV advertising industry. Think they're the first guys to have this idea? There is a whole dysfunctional advertising buying/selling process to fix, not to mention the entrenched Nielsen ratings issues and antiquated ad-insertion infrastructure. Good luck, Google. - infradead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@crilen007
http://tinyurl.com/h836h
That's a Google search which I've tinyurl'd for brevity's sake. - oGMo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@ChrisGilliard: Same. In fact, sometimes---though rarely, usually when I'm looking for something I don't regularly buy---I'll search specifically to get the text ads to find vendors who sell what I'm looking for.
As for people moderating you down; ever use pricewatch.com? That's basically highly-targetted advertising. Also, not all google ads are commercial, if for some reason you find people selling things is evil... but then I'm sure there is no one like that here, because there are no hypocrites on digg: such people would clearly be out living in the forest eating berries and grubs instead.
Think, the reason we hate ads isn't because they're advertising something, it's because they're loud, annoying, repetitive, and almost always irrelevant. If Google can bring its principles (relevant, tasteful, unobnoxious ads) to TV, I'd far rather those than produce placement or the current crap.
Besides, if you still don't like them, there's still fast-forward. - MrJohnson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Head On, apply directly to the forehead.
- nrvous250gt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3All Shakira, all the time.
- ChrisGilliard, on 10/12/2007, -10/+12"Eric Schmidt is wrong. We don't want to see ANY ads."
I disagree with this. I click on the ads that Google displays for search quite often. That's because in many cases, they display the item I'm searching for. If they could do something similar in television, I'd probably click on some of those ads as well. Also, I'd be very pleased to get free television service from Google in exchange for small (and useful) advertisements at the bottom of the screen (er, webpage). This is really a big win for everyone. The only question is: is Youtube.com ahead of Google at this point? - Canthros, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Ideally, if they can increase revenue per individual ad, the number of ads any one viewer sees should go down. It'd be nice to dump the five-minute-long blocks of ads in the middle of some shows. The downside is that any scheme like this increases the overhead involved in delivering the advertising, so it's not going to be as beneficial as might first seem apparent.
- quentinp, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Until people just stop making TV shows because there's no money in it.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If only they could do something about the ads that make me want to never buy the product or reject the message being espoused.
- infradead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Well, put that next to Microsoft's figures for some perspective:
Revenue $39.8 B
Total Net Income $12.3 B
Earnings Per Share $1.12
EBITDA $15.4 B
Long Term Debt $0.0
It's not like I'm saying Google is a financial failure or anything ;) but think also about Microsoft's position: they have a strong product lineup which has been selling well for nearly two decades. Google has search and some optional extras like Writely and Spreadsheets, which are cool but not setting the world on fire, at least not yet. And it's much easier to shift people from one service (eg search) to another, compared to moving them from an installed software base (Windows and Office) to another. Anyway, I take your point -- I'm stretching the point to paint Google as a financial weakling, but in the context of software they're not unique, and TV advertising would make them unassailable.
BTW, crilen007, I was kidding about the NSA thing. Well, kind of. If you did want 24-hour citizen surveillance, Google would be a fabulous way to do it. - chubbymidget, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Have to agree Eric, I hate seeing commericals that aren't for me...
I'd much rather fast forward thru Hooters and AMD commercials rather than Depends and Tampon commercials.. - GopherGod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Working in advertising, I know the Google Model will not work for TV Advertising.
1) No one knows forsure who is watching any show, including Google. Nielsen is the closest thing we have, and it sucks.
2) Two, all of Googles current advertisers work on direct reponse model. TV is a branding medium
3)Advertisers are already trying to be as relavent as possible
Unless Google figures out a better way to measure who is watching the shows, they cannot possibly improve on the current model. - bjorkbjorkbjork, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2infradead: "Finally, Google sometime needs to start making serious income. It has plenty of cash from selling shares, but sooner or later you need revenue or the party is over."
Have you seen google's financials from 2005? Just wondering. If you haven't, here they are:
Google Financial Snapshot 2005 http://marketwatch.nytimes.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp?MW=http%3A%2F%2Fmarketwatch.nytimes.com%2Fcustom%2Fnyt-com%2Fhtml-companyprofile.asp&symb=goog&x=0&y=0
Revenue $ 6.1 B
Total Net Income $ 1.5 B
Earnings Per Share $ 5.02
EBITDA $ 2.4 B
Long Term Debt $ 0.0
I don't know how much of that was from stock sales, but various other sources I'm too lazy to look up right now indicate that they make a huge, "skyrocketing" amount of money already off of advertising sales. So my point (derived from the conventional market wisdom already out there) is that Google's already got serious revenue but it needs more streams to be financially secure in the long term. - chubbymidget, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I've never had a Mentoos because their commercials were so annoying.
- jedi0utkast, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@OBKenobi
"Eric Schmidt is wrong. We don't want to see ANY ads."
Interesting, so now how do you suggest the networks will get money to create TV shows, they will create then out of the goodness of their harts, for no profit?
The only networks that can support themselves with virtually no ads are the premium channels like HBO, MAX and Stars and we all know those are FREE right?
So, what do you prefer?
a) to pay for every single channel you watch
b) a free channel with advertising that does not relate to you
c) a free channel with advertising targeted to what you actually need.
Advertising is a necessary evil, we can't get rid of it. even this site depends on it for revenue an that is something we cannot deny, none the less y advertising is done well it is not as intrusive, I have a DVR and sometimes i see myself going back to watch and ad just because it is so dam funny.
Have you ever watched this ad http://kuklins.com/joke-flash-load-content.php?ac=/v/v-1956.htm
The ad alone is better that most TV shows out there. :) - jo42, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2As long as there are people capping TV shows, editing out the brain dead advertising, then I won't have to see a single ad from anyone ever again.
- dBLiSS, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1ahhh... I want that too!
- cubbieco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1FYI:
Income is never from selling shares of stock. It's against accounting rules to profit off your own stock (from a company's perspective.)
The 1.5 Billion is free and clear we made money actual money.
They have no financial problems. Like every company they want more. - shreky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You are both forgetting one thing. Beer ads does not show on Grey's Anatomy. The ads that show are mostly for women[targeted audience].
To make my point clear, each tv show displays ads relevant to their audience just as a cartoon would not show sexual ads but instead you would see kids related ads.
Wow, it seems google is doing something different.....Wait for it.....It's already targeted ads. :)
Do you really think tv advertisers are that dumb? They know showing beer ads on Grey
s Anatomy is a dumb idea but brilliant for the NFL. - cookin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Cringely predicted this.
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20060105.html
FTA: "To understand what Google really means, however, I keep coming back to the core values of the company -- search and advertising. What does each new product or service do for search or advertising? Because until they come up with a third revenue source as big as those two, Google will always be looking for its livelihood in those two directions."
and: "Google imagines a world where only single people see match.com ads, and people who can't drive see ads from taxi companies where others see Toyota campaigns. Where fraternities see ads for strip clubs, beer, Cancun weekends and LSAT prep courses, and only seniors (and their adult children) see ads for Alzheimer's drugs. What would be the value of that increased efficiency, capitalized into present dollars? Ten billion? Fifty billion? I say the value is $100 billion -- 25 percent of the total U.S. advertising market and 15 times Google's current size." - matthewaaron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Them ads are the Schmidt!
- cubbieco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Is it just me or is anybody else bothered that Google wan't to spy on my TV viewing.
Fortunately until all of our media is coming in through the Internet this will never happen. And while IPTV is becoming somewhat popular, it will be a very long time before anything replaces broadcast / cable / satellite television. Since it is currently illegal for cable / satellite boxes to report exactly what we want (hence the need for the Nielson rating system) targeted ads on TV is probably not going to happen in the next 30 years or more. - gharding, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ads aren't catered to me already? But I really needed a new brand of panty liner. One that'll absorb all the blue liquid spewing from my crotch!!
- crilen007, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Requesting link to said story.
- chriskzoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Maybe those are typical ads for your 'typical' football watcher, but they might not be typical ads for a household that watches, say, Will and Grace and Grey's Anatomy during the week, versus a house that watches House and the US Paintball Championships.
Yes, they both watch NFL, but that does not mean that they would necessarily respond to the exact same type of ad. - GopherGod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Plus... TV is mass advertising. The reason you don't see ads that just relate to you is because it is not like online. Online ad the time you view an ad, is likely you are the only one looking at that ad at that time.
Not true with TV and Radio. Everyone listening and watching at that time are watching that ad. Someone is always going to see something they don't want to see. - Powermac, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Everyone's known that Spotrunner.com is Google's next acqusition. Keep an eye on them.
- shitthisfook, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1OK, I have always had this problem with ads (long-ish post, but hear me out):
Normal, Standard TV ads are usually useless and disrupt my viewing experience, providing me with nothing but a few minutes of waiting or a bathroom break. However, there have been times when I learned of something useful or interesting that I would have never learned of if it wasn't for a commerical break.
Targeted ads would only keep me in the know on what I wanted to know.
Suppose I was into video editing. Why would I really want all of my ads to be about video editing alone? Most likely I buy video editing magazines, browse video editing forums and have peers who are also into video editing. So most of the ads would be useless because I already know about what's going on in the field of video editing.
Even though it's rare, there have been times when I had a problem (let's say cleaning around the house), and at the same time, a brand-new wild and exciting product catches my attention. These products usually solve my problems, and I didn't even know I needed them (how could I?) So I appreciate the commercials that informed me of their existence.
Maybe they should make something that links your web searching to this TV thing that they're doing. So in my case, if I was searching for ways to clean my house online, next time I turned on the TV, I would get a batch of ads for *new* products in that field. Not plain products that we all know of. And when I got my product, I'd like to have some ability to go back to regular ads and turn off the household cleaning product ads. - jdavid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1if it is like google adwords, then smart people will buy rights to the spelling of words that are miss reconized by the voice processing engines so that they can sneak in an add about their blog, or video cast, ahh the living room is almost merged with the internet. I cant wait.
The next question is when will google ads sponsor something in secondlife, say dynamic 3d ads? - bjorkbjorkbjork, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Cringely's just getting the $100 billion figure from Eric Schmidt's hope that Google will be a "$100 billion company".
- crilen007, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Too bad?
I'd prefer Google doing it. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1everyone makes mistakes (except for me)
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