Sep 15, 2008 5:49 AM

Google TV: This Is Only a Test

Google’s partnership last week with NBCU marked a huge leap forward for the search giant’s television advertising business. The multi-year advertising partnership gives Google permission to sell a portion of NBC Universal’s advertising inventory. But the deal seems less about Google’s expanded reach and more about the search giant getting the opportunity to show if […]

Googletv Google’s partnership last week with NBCU marked a huge leap forward for the search giant’s television advertising business. The multi-year advertising partnership gives Google permission to sell a portion of NBC Universal’s advertising inventory. But the deal seems less about Google’s expanded reach and more about the search giant getting the opportunity to show if it can turn the business upside down.

Working with NBC Universal gives Google access to inventory on channels like Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, and Sci-Fi. But according to Ad Age, NBCU views the partnership as a small experiment that could help the media company transition into a multiple model for selling its advertising.

Pam Zucker, exec VP-marketplace ignition at Publicis Groupe's MediaVest, tells the magazine:

"The marketplace over time is going to evolve into multiple models. The auction model will serve a role for a certain type of inventory at the bottom tier of the market, and the top tier of the market is about customized solutions that demand personal interaction."

Prior to this deal, Google TV’s partnership with EchoStar’s Dish Network limited its reach to 14 million of the 112 million households in the United States, but the deal seems less about Google’s new reach and more about proving the company’s effectiveness in television.

Ad Age quotes Bernstein Research analyst Nichael Nathanson from a September 9th research note:

"Although the amount of national inventory is likely to be small and relatively unattractive -- mostly nonprime and inventory sold to direct-response advertisers (infomercials) -- if Google can sell the inventory more effectively and cost-efficiently than the current sales force efforts, we believe that it could set an important precedent that other cable networks may follow.”