Advanced Television

Google advertising for UK TV?

March 10, 2008

Google is considering bringing its TV advertising service, currently being tested in the US, to the UK market. It would be its first entry into offline advertising this side of the Atlantic.

The company has been working with the US’ second-largest satellite operator, Dish Network on technology that allows advertisers to see how many people are watching their adverts. In the UK, Google already has a partnership with BSkyB, under which it is the satellite broadcaster’s search-and-video technology partner. BSkyB is keen to improve the targeting of advertising.

Mario Queiroz, who heads Google’s product management operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the company would look at opportunities in the UK TV market if the US trials are successful. The Google TV Ads service takes information from set-top boxes to calculate how many people are watching which ads. The platform is built on Google’s successful AdWords service, which allows advertisers to “purchase” keywords which, when searched for by Google users, will also bring up that advertiser’s advert.

Meanwhile, European Commission regulators are prepared to give Google's $3.1 billion acquisition of online advertising firm DoubleClick the go-ahead, reports the FT. The EC's approval is likely to come without any major conditions, although officials had voiced concerns about the impact the merger would have on users' privacy.

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