Google Video Ads

iMedia is reporting on the brief appearance of video ads in Google AdSense. iMedia quotes a Google press statement:

"Google is always considering new ways to provide value to its advertisers and we frequently run tests of potential new features and products. We are currently running a limited test of click-to-play video ads on select AdSense publisher websites. We do not have any additional details to share at this time."

Google can likely charge a premium for such ads in the move to diversify and increase revenues. It’s unclear whether such ads can be geotargeted other than by selecting specifically local sites (but I’m getting ahead of myself).

Several things are interesting about this generally. It reflects the growing importance of rich media and video online and the need for all the engines to offer a full range of ad vehicles to clients. It also reflects Google’s desire to grab marketer branding dollars. Branding in search has been something of a hard sell to date, but more branding dollars are making their way into search. (See Kevin Ryan’s column today.) And the more marketers understand how consumers use search and the Internet more generally in the "buying cycle" the more branding money will flow online.

Some time ago, I wrote about SEM firm Impaqt’s Intelligent Landing Page, which can host video and has a range of impressive capabilities. I spoke to them at their booth yesterday at SES. It has taken a while for marketers to understand how such rich media products can be used, but the company says that now they’re getting traction.

While the Google video experiment is on AdSense and not search, I think we’ll begin to see more dynamic products (such as Impaqt’s landing page and ContactAtOnce’s presence management solutions) sitting "behind" paid search as a way to enhance or maximize the value of those ads for marketers.