Online business Toolkit

Google adds revenue through video ads

Tom Krazit CNET News

Published: 10 Sep 2009 10:46 BST

Google sought to remind financial analysts on Wednesday that despite all the attention it devotes to projects like Google Apps, staying on top of search and search advertising is what really matters.

The first in a series of investor webcasts was held on Wednesday by Google chief financial officer Patrick Pichette and several other executives. And while the company did not unearth any ground-breaking shifts in strategy or new products, it did cast a spotlight on some recent improvements it believes have enhanced the search experience.

Perhaps the most notable was the recent addition of video ads directly below text ads on the top or right-hand side of search results pages, which can be played directly on the page.

This began to emerge for some users last week, according to ReelSEO, but Google is now offering advertisers a chance to insert a video trailer into their text ads. "In many cases, the best information is video," said Nick Fox, business product management director on Google's AdWords team.

For example, Fox demonstrated how Electronic Arts is using a video trailer inside an ad for the new Tiger Woods video game. The result is a marriage of the text ad format Google has used to become a dominant internet company with the display ad style that others, such as Yahoo, are hoping to finally make a success.

"Google hasn't made many changes to its text ad format and now sees this as a big opportunity," wrote JP Morgan's Imran Khan in a research note distributed after the webcast. Google can charge either by the click through to the advertiser's website or by the play of the video, therefore adding a revenue stream that didn't exist before.

Credit: Google shows off videos in text ads from CNET News