Since launching in 2007, Google TV Ads has provided advertisers a smart, measurable way to run national TV campaigns, while at the same time helping our partners (including networks, cable and satellite operators) work towards maximizing revenue from their inventory.  Over the past year, we’ve seen a 6-fold increase in the number of ads aired per day as our household reach across cable and satellite operators has tripled.  Today we’re pleased to continue this momentum, to help both advertisers and partners get the most from TV advertising.

New partner - welcome Cox Media

Cox Media, the advertising division of Cox Communications, the third largest cable operator in the US with more than 6 million total customers, has entered into a strategic partnership with Google TV Ads, adding their inventory to our national TV buying network.  Cox becomes the first major cable industry partner to deploy Google’s next-generation advertising management solution, a major update to the TV Ads platform.

As a result of this partnership, advertisers who use Google TV Ads will have access to inventory on over 75 networks across Cox's channel line up.  Cox Media is available in many cities across the country.

Building upon previously announced inventory deals with DIRECTV, Verizon FiOS, and Viamedia, Google TV Ads has nearly tripled its operator household reach since the start of 2011, to a total of 42 million households nationwide.

For Cox Media, this partnership will deliver new national TV advertisers, particularly those focused on high levels of measurement and accountability in their TV advertising, similar to how they use Google's online advertising products.

Mike Zeigler, Cox Media’s Vice President of Operations and Field Management, told us: “The media industry is changing rapidly.  Our new partnership with Google TV Ads allows us to reach new market segments through a highly automated and efficient distribution platform.  We are pleased to be part of bringing new television opportunities to Google advertisers.”

New ad management solution

As the TV landscape has evolved from a few to hundreds of networks, audience attention has fragmented, making the process of reaching one large audience more challenging.  At the same time, TV ad inventory is split between a number of players - national networks, regional affiliates, cable, and satellite operators. As a result, each has its own slices of inventory to sell - divided across many shows, in disparate regions, on lots of channels, at various times of the day. On its own, each slice may not have a large number of viewers, or enable a major advertiser to reach a nationwide audience.  And it’s time consuming to buy and sell each slice individually.

To solve this problem, Google TV Ads is announcing an update to its service that enables operators to easily opt-in and contribute these narrow slices into the Google TV Ads national  inventory pool.  As thousands of these slices are aggregated, this pool represents a large national audience that marketers can then customize to their audience goals.

Cox is the first major cable operator to choose this new Google TV Ads ad management solution, and moving forward we will be integrating with new partners, including Suddenlink Communications, which reaches 1.2M households.

The new solution aims to deliver higher returns for our operators while integrating with existing industry technology, streamlining time-consuming inventory management tasks such as ordering, trafficking and reporting.

Bendbroadband, a Bend, Oregon-based cable company, was the first to trial this new platform, starting in May 2011.  Tim Olson, General Manager of Ad Sales for Zolo Media, a division of Bendbroadband, told us: “Google TV Ads generates more revenue, uses our inventory more efficiently and is overall easier to work with...we’re generating 4-5 times the revenue we used to.”

While we’ve come far in 2011, going forward we’ll keep working to help our partners maximize their advertising revenues.  Our advertisers will be happy to know we’ll also be adding more inventory to our system by expanding our relationship with Cox Media and establishing partnerships with additional operators beginning with Suddenlink Communications.  At the same time, Google TV Ads will continue to provide the same level of precision, flexibility and measurability that our advertisers have come to rely on.

You can find out more about Google TV Ads at google.com/tvads.

Posted by Mark Piesanen, Director of Strategic Partner Development, Google TV Ads

       Since announcing our inventory partnership with DIRECTV in August 2010, Google TV Ads has offered advertisers the ability to place their TV spots on a broad selection of national inventory across 11 its networks.  Today we are pleased to share that we have grown our DIRECTV reach to include five new networks.  Now when you plan your TV campaign with Google TV Ads, you will have more inventory from the following networks with which to target your audience on:

• FOX Soccer Channel: America's premier destination for the world's game, FOX Soccer Channel offers unprecedented coverage of live and premier world-class soccer, news and original shows throughout the year.
• Gospel Music Channel: The only network with a truly non-controversial programming slate of movies, dramas, comedies and music, Gospel Music Channel is America's favorite channel for uplifting entertainment.
• Logo: Appealing to a broad range of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender viewers and their friends and family, Logo features a vast library of major film titles, documentaries, and quality original shows and specials.
• RFD-TV: Devoted to rural issues, concerns, and interests, much of the programming of RFD-TV is concerned with the culture of farming and agriculture.
• TV Games: The leading horse racing television network in the U.S

       Adding these networks expands our already strong reach on DIRECTV, which includes networks such as the TV Guide Network, Fox Business Network, Current TV, and more. Along with our previously announced operator partners including Dish Network, Verizon FiOS, and ViaMedia, Google TV Ads now offers the ability to reach up to 35M households across the US.

For more information on how to get started with Google TV Ads, visit www.google.com/tvads today.

Posted by Sanjeev Das, Software Engineer, Google TV Ads

*Network descriptions sourced from the Cable Advertising Bureau

This past November we announced that we had struck a partnership agreement with Verizon FiOS, one of the fastest growing television providers in the nation. Today we are pleased to announce that we have completed integration of FiOS’ 4M households into Google TV Ads, opening up inventory across over 50 networks, including AMC, ESPN, Discovery, Fox News, MTV, and other popular channels. With the addition of this new inventory to our system, Google TV Ads has now extended its reach to more than 25% of all US television households.

To ensure a smooth transition, current advertisers’ campaigns will automatically extend to this new inventory when eligible, achieving maximum reach for their message.

For more information or to learn more about advertising with Google TV Ads, visit www.google.com/tvads.

Posted by Sanjeev Das, Software Engineer, Google TV Ads

We’ve all heard the old adage about not knowing which 50% of your advertising is wasted. Well, TV advertisers often tell us this is absolutely true. And with the proliferation of online ad formats that are highly targeted and measurable, the impact of TV ads can feel even more abstract by comparison. It doesn't help that typical TV buys are often slow to provide data, and that data is often very limited.

The good news is that TV advertising technology has been advancing rapidly, helping advertisers better understand how TV helps them achieve their marketing objectives. Platforms like Google TV Ads are bringing targeting, measurement and speed to TV like never before. Unfortunately, too many advertisers don’t know these solutions exist.

It’s time that changed. To that end, we’re excited to announce the launch of an advertising campaign to spread the word about Google TV Ads and its ability to make your TV buy smarter.

If you frequent sites like AdAge or MediaPost, you are likely to see our campaign over the next couple of months.  You can also check out our new campaign website at google.com/smarterTVads.

Posted by Eric Meyerson, Head of TV and Video Ads Marketing 

Google TV Ads’ audience targeting tool brings together numerous data sources to enable advanced targeting on TV. The merging of clustering models like Nielsen's PRIZM household segments with anonymized Equifax and set-top box data allows you to target multi-dimensional audiences like women ages 18-24 who love photography. Now we’re adding yet another data set to make that experience even richer -- P$YCLE segmentation.

P$YCLE is a market segmentation system from the Nielsen Company that marketers use to understand and target households by financial behavior and wealth. P$YCLE groups households into 58 unique segments based on income-generating assets, spending habits, investment behavior, and various financial and demographic characteristics.

Sample P$YCLE segments include:

• Feathered Nests – There's money tucked away in Feathered Nests, a collection of middle-aged families with high incomes and above-average investable assets. A mix of college-educated Whites and Asians, these 35- to 54-year-olds typically hold management jobs and have begun filling their retirement accounts with mutual funds, stocks, bonds, and CDs. They're also a strong credit market, often carrying jumbo mortgages and home equity lines of credit. Insurance omnivores, they own annuities, term and whole life, disability coverage, and auto insurance for their multiple cars. And they enjoy good-life pursuits, like golfing and sailing, boutique shopping for children's toys and collectibles, and tuning their high-end TVs to ice hockey matches and public broadcasting programs. For investment tips, they read a variety of business magazines.

• Online Living – No segment scores higher for using Internet banking than Online Living. This group of mostly 25- to 44-year-old singles, couples, and families ranks at the top for stock trading and bill paying, as well as buying at retail websites. Many of these web-surfers live in suburban sprawl areas, own their homes and have upscale incomes, but they have only modest levels of income-producing assets and are still paying off student and personal loans.

To get started, simply select a P$YCLE segment in the Google TV Ads interface. Google will create a custom list of cable networks, dayparts, and programs that are popular with your target audience.

Finding your target audience on TV has never been easier and we’re thrilled to continue to explore the powerful ways to connect technology, data, and television.

Posted by Jody Shapiro, Product Manager for Google TV Ads

Google expands operator footprint in the start of 2011 with 18 cable providers, 68 networks, and 2M additional homes

We’re excited to start off 2011 with a strategic agreement that continues to grow the reach of Google TV Ads. Our newest inventory partner, Viamedia, is a provider of advertising sales services to partners including 18 of the top 30 cable operators in the US. By partnering with Viamedia, Google adds 2 million homes to the TV Ads system on 68 popular cable networks across 18 cable operators.

This continued growth of our platform means 35 million cable, satellite, and telco homes in the US are now integrated into Google TV Ads. Our platform now offers 1,200 GRPs and 1.5 billion available impressions each week for advertisers to target through one simple interface.

Both Viamedia and Google are forward-looking in our approach to television advertising, making this a natural collaboration. We are thrilled to to welcome our new partners and offer our advertisers greater reach across the television universe.

Posted by Mark Piesanen, Strategic Partner Development for Google TV Ads

Reach, precision, utility and measurement. These are the qualities we strive to deliver to customers, and we're getting better at it everyday. Today we've strengthened the reach of the Google TV Ads platform even further by signing a partnership with Verizon FiOS TV, one of the fastest growing television providers with the largest fiber-optic network in the US. By adding over 50 networks on Verizon FiOS TV across 3.3 million homes, we can offer you growing access to the audiences you want to reach on television. 

By early 2011, advertisers will be able to reach 35 million households, or almost one-third of all US cable and satellite homes through Google TV Ads. Combine this reach with our digital buying platform, and you have one powerful solution that can deliver results. 

Like Google, Verizon cares deeply about the evolution and future of TV advertising. Together we're thrilled to establish this partnership to offer great inventory and access to your audience via the Google TV Ads platform. 

Posted by Mark Piesanen, Director of Strategic Partnerships for Google TV Ads

"TV and video advertising is only for big businesses." 
"Creating a good video ad is too expensive."

These are just some of the myths we wanted to dispel by launching the TV for All contest this September. As the contest comes to a close, it's clear that small and medium sized businesses are energized about new media platforms and that they are creating inspired ads using innovative solutions such as SpotMixer without breaking the bank.

We were thrilled to receive hundreds of entries and plenty of excitement from businesses around the country. Our panel of judges including creative and agency experts had the tough task of narrowing the pool down to a handful of finalists who best exemplified creativity and clear messaging. In the end, the YouTube community come together to crown three winners. Congraulations to our winners - Proust, OraBrush and FreeTaxUSA.com who will each receive $25,000, $15,000 or $10,000 in TV and video advertising with Google TV Ads. Each of these ads embraced an innovative concept and put forth a clear and compelling message to win over thousands of voters.

On behalf of the Google TV Ads and SpotMixer teams, thank you to everyone who entered. And remember, even if you didn't win the contest, you now have a compelling ad creative that can be put to good use!

Posted by Neha Mandal, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

Voting season is heating up around the country and even here at Google -- it's time to cast your votes for the TV for All contest! We asked businesses to get creative, produce a video ad and enter for a chance to win up to $25,000 in TV and video advertising through Google AdWords. We had an incredible response from hundreds of businesses of all types and sizes. Last week, our panel of judges narrowed down the entrants seven finalists.

Now, it's your turn to help crown the ultimate three winners of the contest. Visit www.youtube.com/tvforall to view each finalist and cast your votes through November 9th. With your participation, you can help three deserving businesses win $25,000, $15,000 or $10,000 in TV and video advertising media to kick start their aspirations of broadcasting their businesses. Don't forget to vote by November 9th!


Posted by Neha Mandal, Product Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

Advertisers will soon receive even more accurate ad performance and viewership data for Google TV Ads campaigns aired on DIRECTV. We’ve signed an agreement with Kantar Media, a leading audience measurement and research firm, to incorporate set-top-box data collected from 100,000 DIRECTV subscribers as part of Kantar Media’s DIRECTView™ service.

Earlier this year, we announced a partnership with DIRECTV which will bring advertising inventory across a broad selection of its networks to our system in 2011. By integrating Kantar’s DIRECTV viewership data into our system, we’ll be able to provide much more robust performance data for spots aired on DIRECTV. For advertisers, this means more accurate impression counts and viewership metrics leading to increased efficiency of your TV campaigns. 

We hope to integrate this new data into our system in early 2011. To learn more about how Google TV Ads can help you achieve your marketing goals, please visit our website.

Post by Vinay Bhargava, Strategic Partnership Development for Google TV Ads

Platforms like Google TV Ads and YouTube are making it easier for business of all sizes to connect with consumers via video. But for many businesses, creating an ad can be an expensive hurdle to advertising on national television, radio, and online video. That's why we built the Ad Creation Marketplace (ACM), a tool that connects businesses with talented production specialists who can produce a professional TV, online video or audio ad across a range of budgets starting as low as $250.

Creating high quality ads has never been easier or more affordable. While the ACM has been available for some time through Google AdWords, we've completely redesigned it to make it easier for you to browse sample work and connect with specialists who best fit your needs.

To get started, visit the ACM and specify your budget range and ad category using the filters at the top. Then browse through sample videos created by ACM vendors in the past which will give you a sense of the style and price you can expect from each vendor.

After you've found the specialist(s) you like, click the "Contact vendor" button to start a conversation and discuss terms and project details. Make sure to tell the vendor up front that you're new to TV Ads and that you want to use the Google promotional credit. Once the vendor has completed your ad, you will receive an email with the finished ad. In just a few clicks, you can put this ad on television or online through Google TV Ads and other YouTube ad formats like Promoted Videos.

To celebrate the launch of the new ACM, Google TV Ads is offering a limited time discount on any ad created through the ACM that has an initial invoice price of $300 or more. That means you can create a video ad for as little as $100! (View promotion terms and conditions here).

We hope you'll find the Ads Creation Marketplace a useful tool that makes it easier for your business to produce professional quality ads.

Posted by David Wurtz, Product Manager, Google TV Ads

At Google TV Ads, we're constantly working to improve our platform to help advertisers find and target the right audiences. To this end, we're proud to announce a partnership with Nielsen's PRIZM lifestyle segmentation product, yet another feature which allows advertisers to hone in on the right audiences with Google TV Ads.

This partnership brings more layers of audience data to our existing targeting tools. In addition to demographic and interest dimensions from Nielsen and Equifax already available in our targeting tools, advertisers will now be able to layer on PRIZM segments to find their audience on TV through Google TV Ads. PRIZM categorizes US households into 66 unique segments, using attributes such as lifestage, income, social group, home ownership, employment, and education.

Sample PRIZM segments include:

• New Empty Nests – with their grown-up children recently out of the house, New Empty Nests is composed of upscale older Americans who pursue active–and activist–lifestyles. This is the top-ranked segment for all-inclusive travel packages;
• New Homesteaders – young, middle-class families with comfortable, child-centered lifestyles; and
  
• Young Digerati – the nation's tech-savvy singles and couples living in fashionable neighborhoods on the urban fringe.
  

How does it work? Advertisers simply select a PRIZM cluster in the Google TV Ads interface, and receive recommendations on which TV networks, dayparts, and programs are popular with that cluster. Advertisers can then add the media they'd like to target and air ads within 24 hours of building a campaign.

(Click on the image for a full-size version)

This extended relationship between Nielsen and Google complements and builds on our existing audience targeting tools and offers advertisers better targeting capabilities. We hope that all of these tools and data sources will help advertisers target their TV Ads more effectively, while allowing inventory owners to increase the value of their content.

Do you know where to find your target audience on TV? Use Nielsen PRIZM through Google TV Ads to find out today!

Posted by Bob Meese, Business Development Manager for Google TV Ads

Small businesses often think that television advertising is too expensive and cumbersome for them to use. They assume that they need a fancy, expensive commercial to use in their TV campaign. But Google TV Ads changes all of that — we make it easy and affordable for you to make a TV ad, plan a campaign and reach your customers through the power of television. We launched the TV for All contest two months ago to prove just that.

More than 200 companies submitted commercials for the opportunity to win $25,000 worth of free national advertising on cable channels such as CNBC, Hallmark and Bloomberg using Google TV Ads. Today, we're happy to announce the three winners of the TV for All contest based on votes from the YouTube community.

Amazing Gates, Owners.com and ZAGG.com received the largest number of votes among the 10 finalists. Each of these businesses will receive $25,000 in free national advertising through Google TV Ads advertising.

Check out the three winners and all entries at www.youtube.com/tvforallcontest. For more information on Google TV Ads and how it can help your small business succeed, visit our website at google.com/tvads.

Posted by Deeksha Hebbar, Associate Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

We're thrilled to announce our newest inventory partners: Ovation TV and Sky Angel. Both of these partnerships expand the reach of the Google TV Ads platform, allowing advertisers to access more targeted audiences through our system.

Ovation TV reaches over 33M homes across the US with programming that highlights art, theatre, music, and performance arts. Ovation TV broadcasts classic and original content covering all genres of art such as: American Revolutionaries, Discovering Masterpieces, Everything is Art, La Boheme and Battle of the Nutcrackers. Advertisers can now target Ovation TV's sophisticated and affluent audience through our platform.

Through our partnership with Sky Angel, advertisers can target two new networks - Angel One and Angel Two. Both networks bring faith based and lifestyle programming to an audience of 14M homes nationwide. Programming on Angel One includes today's top ministries and other faith bases shows. Angel Two offers a wide array of content ranging from concerts, cooking and travel shows, to sports and news.

Advertisers can target this new inventory today along with the 98+ cable networks also offered through our platform. To learn more about advertising with Google TV Ads, visit www.google.com/tvads. Inventory owners who are interested in becoming a Google TV Ads inventory partner can find more information at www.google.com/adsense/tv.

Posted by Kristin Higaki, Technical Account Manager and Neha Mandal, Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

It's been a little over a week since we launched the TV for All contest, and we have already received over 25 submissions! You can check out current entries under the "Gallery" tab on the contest home page.

As you may recall, Google TV Ads' TV for All contest is everyone's chance to advertise on television. You can enter your small business' commercial in the contest for the opportunity to win $25,000 worth of free national advertising on cable channels such as CNBC, Hallmark, and Bravo using Google TV Ads.

Our panel of celebrity judges will review all entries and select finalists by mid October. The YouTube community will then vote for three winners, each of whom will receive $25,000 in free national TV advertising through Google TV Ads. The contest submission deadline is October 5, and winners will be announced on October 30.

We are excited to have assembled a distinguished group of judges including top entrepreneurs, creative agencies, and television luminaries. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, and Steve Hafner, CEO of Kayak will give an internet tycoon's perspective, while Jon Bond, partner at kirshenbaum bond + partners, and Neal Arthur, Head of Strategic Planning at Wieden + Kennedy will provide an expert creative eye. Noted television journalists and authors Daisy Whitney and Shelly Palmer round out our powerhouse panel.

Full guidelines, contest rules and tips and tricks are available on the TV for All YouTube contest brand channel at www.youtube.com/tvforallcontest. Check out our submissions so far, and be sure to enter today!

Posted by Deeksha Hebbar, Associate Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

Do you love watching game shows on TV? Lots of people do. In fact, more than 65 million people watch the Game Show Network! We are happy to announce that national advertising on GSN through Google is now available (GSN is already offered through our Dish inventory). Call that a deal (or no deal)? We think it's a great deal!

The network currently offers popular programs such as Twenty Q, Deal or No Deal, Money List and much more. As the premier television network for games, GSN produces some of the most popular original casino and game show series on TV today. The typical demographic for GSN is pretty broad, with its audience consisting of adults in all ranges, who are interested in live game shows and interaction with TV shows.

Here's how to include GSN in your campaigns:

1. Go to your AdWords account and create a new TV campaign.
2. On the "Targets" tab, click the "Add targets" button.
3. Click "Choose networks, days and times" and find "GSN - Game Show Network" in the list.
4. Select the days and times you want your ad to air, and add them to your campaign.

(Click on the image for a full-size version)

Once you upload your ad and set the CPM and budget, your ads will then be entered into the auction. After your ads air, you will have access to reports measuring the number of impressions, CPM and audience retention based on accurate set-top-box data.

In addition to GSN, advertisers can also target national inventory on the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel, which we launched earlier this year, along with NBC Universal networks CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, SyFy, Chiller, Sleuth, Outdoor Channel and CBS College Sports. We are thrilled to be extending the reach of our platform for our advertisers.

Posted by Anand Banwasi, Technical Account Manager for Google TV Ads

The Google TV Ads team is happy to announce that we've won our first advertising award - a Telly - for one of our click-to-play video ads. The Telly Awards honor the very best cable, regional, local and online video commercials.

The Bronze was awarded to Google/Camp Creative for this ad which focuses on the ease of use that Google TV Ads offers advertisers. You can also check out our other two click-to-play ads showcasing our ability to provide affordable results.

You can see even more videos on Google TV Ads on our brand channel at www.youtube.com/googletvads

Posted by Deeksha Hebbar, Associate Marketing Manager for Google TV Ads

We've partnered with VisibleWorld, a video technology company, to offer our clients a discount on creative versioning. Advertisers with existing creatives can now generate multiple versions of their ads to tailor their messaging at a discounted rate of $50 per ad version.

Visible World's services allow advertisers to create versions of an ad to better tailor and target messaging to various audiences. For example, if an advertiser targets both men and women, he can create one ad version tailored for male oriented networks, and another for female heavy networks and programs. In addition, Visible World's low-cost versioning services allow customers to add unique 800 numbers or URLs in each ad to track response rates more granularly. Lenovo used their services to great success in the past.

You can learn more about this partnership here.

Posted by Sekema Newton, Account Executive for Google TV Ads

The Google TV Ads team is pleased to announce an agreement with Broadway Systems, a leading traffic and billing provider for managing television ad inventory. With this agreement, the two companies will integrate systems and enable Broadway Systems' cable network clients to make their inventory available to Google TV Ads advertisers more easily.

With the addition of Broadway, the Google TV Ads team is now working with most of the leading traffic and billing systems for cable networks, including Harris Corporation and VCI.

Broadway clients who are Google TV Ads inventory partners will be able to reach new advertisers through Google TV Ads, while using their existing tools to manage their television advertising inventory. In addition, these clients will have access to detailed reports on their inventory performance based on set-top box data.

How does it work? As an inventory owner, you specify which inventory you'd like to make available through Google TV Ads. Once advertisers select inventory they want to target, submit bids and upload ads, the winning ads are delivered from Google's platform to Broadway's traffic system, where the ads are scheduled for airing. As ads are approved and aired, Broadway returns verification information to Google about when and where each ad ran.

If you're a TV inventory owner and would like to learn more about how you can sell your inventory through Google TV Ads, visit our AdSense for TV website.

Posted by Bob Meese, Business Development Manager for Google TV Ads

We are pleased to announce the launch of national inventory on Outdoor Channel through Google TV Ads. This latest partnership represents the 10th national network available through our system, further expanding the advertising footprint available to advertisers. Outdoor Channel reaches nearly 30 million homes across the US, attracting a largely male audience of outdoor enthusiasts. Outdoor Channel's lineup offers nearly 40 original programs including 'Monster Fish,' 'Jim Zumbo Outdoors' and 'Savage Wild.' We are extremely excited to add Outdoor Channel's entire national viewership to our platform's offerings, allowing advertisers to connect with this targeted audience of sportsmen.

Outdoor Channel’s launch also represents a key milestone for Google TV Ads: it is the first partnership to launch using our newly developed AdSense for TV interface. This new platform, currently in an early beta release, will allow our partners to get up and running with Google TV Ads faster than ever before. We're excited about the potential of this platform to offer rich tools for our partners to manage, track, and optimize their Google TV Ads inventory. If you are a TV inventory provider and would like to learn more about AdSense for TV, please visit www.google.com/adsense/tv.

(Click the image for a full-size version)

Advertisers can target Outdoor Channel's national inventory immediately through our system. To learn more about Google TV Ads or create your own TV campaign, please visit www.google.com/tvads.

Posted by Jeff Lu, Software Engineer, and Prabhu Balasubramanian, Product Manager, for Google TV Ads