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

Earlier this year we announced a strategic inventory agreement with Viamedia, a provider of advertising sales services to some of the fastest growing cable and telco operators in the US. Today we are pleased to announce that we have completed integration of Viamedia’s two million households into the Google TV Ads platform, making inventory available on 64 networks across their operator partners. With this integration, the household reach of Google TV Ads has now nearly tripled since the beginning of the year.

For those customers that already have Google TV Ads campaigns up and running, there’s nothing you need to do at this time. When eligible, your campaigns will automatically include Viamedia inventory, maximizing reach while staying within your desired budgets.

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

Posted by Kevin Buskirk, Technical Account Manager, Google TV Ads

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 announced our partnership with DIRECTV this past summer, and this week we completed integration to extend the reach of Google TV Ads into 30M homes, soon to grow to 35M. Partnering with DIRECTV, the largest satellite provider and second largest TV distributor in the US, enables us to offer multi-distributor airings on Bloomberg Television, Cartoon Network (West), Centric, Chiller, Current TV, Discovery Fit and Health, Fox Business, Fuel, Ovation, Sleuth and TV Guide across all dayparts, every day.

We're excited about what this enables for advertisers -- more reach, across more operators with no additional work. We'll automatically make sure your ads air across distributors including DIRECTV to maximize the reach on each of your targets while staying within your budgets. We're working quickly to integrate our Verizon FiOS and ViaMedia partnerships to elevate reach to 35M homes, or almost one-third of TV viewing homes in the US.

Extending Your Reach with Google TV Ads 
Increasing the reach of your TV campaigns across this new inventory is a simple process: target any of the networks where we have DIRECTV inventory, and your campaign will be eligible for airings across all of our partners including DIRECTV. It has never been easier to buy airings across multiple operators while reaching a targeted and measurable national audience.

We’re thrilled to continually add reach for our advertisers and work with a growing number of committed partners. Stay tuned for future announcements and learn more about Google TV Ads at our website: www.google.com/tvads.

Posted by Trevor O'Brien, Product Manager for Google TV Ads

With the French Open coming to an exciting close and Wimbledon just around the corner, it's certainly a busy time for our newest partners, Tennis Channel who are in the center of the action. We were lucky enough to grab a few minutes with Gary Herman, Senior Vice President of Ad Sales for Tennis Channel who gave us the scoop on Tennis Channel's programming, core audience, and why partnering with Google has been a good move.


Q: Why is a partnership with Google TV Ads strategic for Tennis Channel?


Gary: Google's TV ads platform creates a marketplace for online advertisers who might not have considered buying television before. No other online company has the breadth of advertisers, resources and credibility that Google brings to the table. Google's auction-based platform is a new way of buying media and we like the idea of staying ahead of the curve.


Q: What are some of the most exciting programs and content that advertisers can look forward to targeting on Tennis Channel?


Gary: Tennis Channel produces and airs more live, world class tennis tournaments than any other cable or broadcast channel in the US. Advertisers buying through Google TV Ads will have plenty of access to all this great content including the opportunity to buy ads during each of the tennis Grand Slams: The Australian Open (January), French Open, (May/June), Wimbledon prime time (June/July) and the US Open (September).


Q: Can you give us an overview of Tennis Channel's core audience?


Gary: Tennis Channel viewers represent the sweet spot of affluent customers. Our audience is balanced between men (57%) and women (43%), young people (two-thirds are under 50 and active) and of course tennis lovers (76% play tennis regularly).


According to the most recent Mendelsohn 2009 Affluent Survey, our average viewers' household income is $233k, the highest of any network featured in the study, and average home values are over $549k -- second only to Bloomberg Television. Our viewers love to travel, dine out, shop at high-end retailers, make online purchases and are early technology adopters.


Q: Given that your audience is amongst the higher end in television, what kinds of advertisers would Tennis Channel appeal to most?

Gary: Our network is ideal for advertisers targeting affluent men and women consumers in a programming environment that is family friendly with minimal commercial skipping and limited commercial clutter. Advertisers find value in knowing that their brand messages are seen by consumers with the disposable income to make purchases even in today's challenging economic times. Some of our key advertisers represent categories such as luxury cars, financial services, insurance, travel, credit cards, technology, pharmaceuticals, and health and beauty.


Q: Are you seeing a change in the way the TV industry is thinking about content, distribution and advertising? How has Tennis Channel innovated in these areas?


Gary: We like being in the sports programming business with television as the main screen; tennis looks great on a 42" high definition screen. The challenge for programmers and advertisers from our point of view, is staying relevant with audiences in a world where the average person receives over 5,000 branded messages per day and can get content on so many devices with different screen sized at any time of day. We know that tennis is an important part of our viewers' lives, and providing them with 24/7 tennis programming by default makes Tennis Channel extremely relevant to them. The clear benefit to our advertisers is that our viewers are more likely to be receptive to ad messages when those messages are aired during their favorite sports programming.


Q: What is something that people might find surprising about Tennis Channel, its content and/or its audience?


Gary: Many people are surprised to hear that there are as many tennis players today as golfers -- tennis is back in a big way and it's catching on with fans of all ages. As for our channel, eyebrows raise when fans realize that Tennis Channel not only airs match play, but we actually produce hundreds and hundreds of hours of live tennis from all over the world including ESPN2's coverage of the US Open Summer Series. There is never a dull moment in tennis, and we're there to catch it all.


Posted by Hana Chang, Strategic Partner Development Manager for Google TV Ads

We're happy to announce Tennis Channel as Google TV Ads' newest partner. The network is the premiere destination on TV for all things tennis, bringing a lot of value to advertisers, as it attracts a highly affluent audience across 28M homes and carries all major tournaments and grand slams, sometimes exclusively. 


Advertisers can log into Google TV Ads today to target dayparts and programs on Tennis Channel, including premiere spots during major tournaments such as the upcoming French and US Opens. During tournaments, Tennis Channel opens up network access to millions of homes, reaching up to 50M homes during these times! 


We hope our advertisers are as excited as we are to access even more targeted audience reach through our growing  platform. 

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

For the past three years, DISH Network has been one of Google's strongest partners in the TV advertising space. Back in 2007, DISH embraced our emerging TV ads platform by signing on as our first partner and has since been an innovative thought leader with Google throughout the growth of this business. 


We're happy to announce that we've renewed and strengthened our partnership with DISH Network and will continue to offer great inventory across over 95 networks on DISH. Through Google's TV Ads platform, advertisers can continue targeting audiences across networks like Animal Planet, CNN, MSNBC, NFL Network, TBS, USA and over 90 others. Stay on the lookout for more new features and targeting options coming soon to our platform!



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