Google Extends Reach in Television

Google announced today that it will partner with Harris Corp. in order to tap into its television inventory. Harris has an existing network that places television ads where there is remnant inventory.

According to the release:

Using current traffic system inventory tools, the Harris media inventory service allows users to select and forward available inventory to Google TV Ads for sale. When spots are sold, the service delivers the spots from Google TV Ads to the Harris traffic system, where they are managed following normal spot placement rules. As spots are approved and aired, the service provides campaign status information to both Google TV Ads and inventory owners.

This is yet another move for Google TV Ads to extend its sources of available inventory, joining recent deals such as NBC Universal. This growth in inventory is happening somewhat in step with the growth of the ad creation that will fill it. In a chicken-and-egg-type scenario, the growth of this inventory will also serve to make its TV Ads program more attractive to advertisers.

This is part of Google’s overall push to facilitate media buys across television, newspapers and radio (see past coverage). The idea is that ad campaigns can be created (including actual video and radio creative), launched, targeted, managed and tracked in AdWords.

Google is hoping things like trackable bar codes, phone numbers and promotional codes across these placements will bring transparency to these relatively opaque media buys. Having them all in one place is also hoped to give a clearer picture of how campaigns across these media affect each other as well as search traffic.

The deals Google has formed across these media to gain access to inventory (i.e., 750 newspapers, Clear Channel Radio, NBC, etc.) will be the enabling factors and are analogous to the AdSense publisher network it has monetized so well online. As this network grows, along with the growth of online video advertising for large and small businesses, the package could be a powerful addition to what is already a powerful self-serve online ad platform.