Sunday, March 21, 2010

What do Google TV ads mean for advertising?

Earlier today I saw the video below about Google TV ads, a new service that "makes it easy for anyone to buy and measure national cable television advertising." As illustrated in the video by Slate ad critic, Seth Stevenson, people to upload their own ad to the site and then buy air time on various networks. The ad is then played on TV. Of course, a person's budget will depend on the amount of air time one can buy and the time slot, but this definitely is an interesting idea. While I do not see this service significantly undermining ad agencies or media buyers, it adds previously unavailable access to media buying on a national scale for any interested party. While I see this as a potential positive, I question some of the ramifications. If anyone can upload any video and just buy the time, will the service end up as an outlet for someone like a hate group to advertise their agenda? Is there any way of monitoring the videos being uploaded? Should there be?