Google's launched video ads!
Google will begin selling video advertising this week, as the largest player in Internet advertising continues to expand beyond the simple text-based ads that form the heart of the company's explosive success.
The new video ads will appear on Web sites that have agreed to display Google's advertising, but not on Google's own sites.
Typically, an advertiser pays Google each time a person clicks on an ad. Google, in turn, pays third-party Web sites for hosting ads that attract clicks.
Since early spring, Google has been testing the new service at Web sites like www.thesuper ficial.com, www.fanfiction.net and http://www.aintitcool.com. On Monday, a video for Max Factor makeup was placed alongside a story about a fight between designer Tommy Hilfiger and singer Axl Rose on a celebrity news Web site.
Gokul Rajaram, a manager with Google's AdSense Network, said advertisers can choose the Web sites on which they want their advertising to appear. The placement of the ad will depend on its popularity and the amount an advertiser has bid in an auction.
The video ads, which appear as static images that are activated by clicks from Web surfers, will not be cluttering Google's search results -- which will remain accompanied by an unobtrusive list of ads composed of a few words of text.
During the first quarter of this year, 58 percent of Google's revenue came from its own sites and 41 percent came from its network of third-party Web sites. Google's advertising sales for the quarter totaled $2.3 billion....
This is a neat new tactic for the ever-innovative Google. The ads look like regular ads with a "play" button. The one on Ain't It Cool News (see the screenshot above) is for TLC, and it plays their current "Life Lessons" ad if you click on it. Very cool.
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