Last Thursday (3/20), I was fortunate enough to have been invited to attend a presentation on the much speculated and recently launched Google TV Ads (beta) at the new Google office in Cambridge, MA (Kendall Square).

I apologize in advance to my extremely gracious Google hosts (Thanks Lori!) for the following whinge, but I’m going to start off with the one thing that really marred my experience at the recent  presentation — however, I  hope I don’t sound too negative as it really was a good event overall (especially the swag and the Google-tinis…mmmm).   

My One Disappointment

So, it looks like even Google is subject to the “lousy sound-system setup” for their live demos. I mean, I wasn’t expecting a TED Talks presentation, but I guess I was hoping for just a little bit more from Google (maybe I’m holding them to too high a standard?)…

To say the least, the sound system was absolutely AWFUL (it sounded like a portable karaoke unit). Also, the presenter was mic’ed up all wrong (the mic was on the side of his jacket that he did NOT turn his head to) and the demonstrator wasn’t even mic’ed up at all! In the end, these “little things” just made for a frustrating experience at an otherwise interesting and enjoyable event.

Back to Regular Programming

With that said, let’s move on to Google TV Ads…

Some of you might not realize that Google has extended their reach beyond the internet alone and into other media properties — they’ve got print (newspapers), radio, and now, of course, TV. And from what I understand, they’re basically trying to apply the very successful (and lucrative) Ad Words model to these traditional media formats for buying and programming ad inventory, thereby giving ad buyers more control, flexibility, and reporting/accountability; not to mention a familiar user-experience for anyone who has used Ad Words.

Here’s what Google states as the benefits for using Google TV Ads:

Better Measurement
Once your ad has aired, use Google’s reporting metrics to immediately understand the effectiveness of your ads. Google is now plugged into millions of set top boxes and we are measuring second-by-second viewership data across all dayparts. This valuable data will enable you to find out which ads are engaging your viewers.

More Accountability
No more make goods! With Google’s auction based pricing system you will only pay for impressions that are actually delivered. When you set up your campaign, you’ll bid the maximum CPM that you are willing to pay. If you are the highest bidder, you pay the next-highest bidder’s offer, so you’re getting the best price possible.

Greater Optimization
Google’s user friendly interface will allow you to launch and manage your TV ad campaigns easily. As you learn more about what ads are more effective with viewers, you can optimize your campaign accordingly with just a few clicks of the mouse.

For those of you familiar with Ad Words, using the Google TV Ads interface will be a cinch. And for those who aren’t as familiar, it’s still pretty intuitive and almost as easy as 1-2-3…

Step 1: Search and select the networks and dayparts (timing) for ads to air
Step 2: Set your budget and bid the max CPM you are willing to pay
Step 3: Track your ad campaigns and optimize accordingly

Seriously, it really is that simple, folks. In fact, you could probably get a TV ad campaign on ESPN, CNN, Discovery or any number of cable channels in less than 3 mins, as demo’ed by the Google folks during the presentation. Of course, you will still have to submit (by mail or by uploading) your 15, 30, 45, or 60 second ads for a 2-step review process, which must adhere to their editorial guidelines.

Google sates that they have access to nearly 100 networks reaching over 13 million households at the moment, including: Fox News, Cartoon Network, Fox Sports Net, Bravo, Fuse, Fine Living, CNN, MTV, DIY Network, NFL Network, A&E, ESPN, and Food Network.

If you want to see some screenshots and read a good beta-tester review, visit Pinny Cohen’s blog or you can also watch Google’s own demo of the system.

My Thoughts: IMHO…

So, what I think is really cool about all this, is not just the fact that you are able to do the ad buying stuff through the Ad Words interface, but that you’re also charged at a CPM (cost per thousand) impressions rate.

Because of Google’s partnership with EchoStar (DISH Network), they are able to provide you with anonymous second-by-second viewership data collected from the set-top-boxes (STBs), meaning that you don’t just pay for EVERYONE that is tuning into that channel for ANY amount of time, but only for those that “qualify” as a real impression/viewer. And, since you can set your CPM budget just like you would for an Ad Word campaign, you can take better control and gain more efficiencies with a limited budget. See an example of what I mean here.

Now, I don’t claim to know much about TV ad buying, but I believe this is probably one of the first platforms that charges on an impressions-only basis and that also tracks these “tune ins” and “tune outs” to provide more accurate metrics and reports that can help you determine your ROI.

Furthermore, with the additional ability to search for programming just like you would using an internet search engine, it also opens the door for people on a smaller budget to target more niche audiences with a tighter focus. And we all know that lots of niche audiences can sometimes contribute to a Long Tail effect (a la Amazon.com).

And to bring it a full-circle, back to the medium that made Google famous, they presented an interesting statistic from an iProspect study on Offline Channel Influence on Online Serach Behavior which showed that the TV is the most influential medium in driving a a viewer to perform an online search (i.e. people search for something after seeing it on TV); even more so than word-of-mouth (by 1%).

 
Chart from iProspect Offline Channel Influence on Online Search Behavior Study (August 2007)

To sum it all up, I’m going to steal what Pinny Cohen summarized in his blog…

What is incredibly useful so far, is Google’s measurement tools, which help you reveal the behavior of your consumers. Google will:

• show you how many impressions were shown (1 impression here means 1 view per screen).
• let you choose a CPM rate to bid against other ads in that slot.
• let you run national, local, or demographic based TV campaigns.
• schedule ads based on day, time, and network.
• estimate how many people tuned in to the ad.
• tell you how long viewers watched the ad for on average
• show you what point in your ad you lost most viewers.

The last part is incredibly useful, because you can now test TV ads (or even video ads that would normally run online) to see if there is a “disconnect”, or a moment in your ad that was either offensive, irrelevant, or extraneous, and should be modified or deleted.

And when it comes to DTC advertising in Pharma, we know all too well that getting the right message across is even more important than in other industries.

So, I can see Google TV Ads as a very useful tool not only for (1) maximizing your budget, (2) market research/testing, and (3) getting excellent metrics to measure impact, but also (4) as a means to target the appropriate audience for your specific drug indication. And, of course, (5) not forgeting that all this probably holds even more true for smaller, startup companies that cannot afford a full-out DTC campaign to compete with the big boys.