GOOGLE BIGGER THAN TV?

Paul Carpenter 19th November 2006
Paul Carpenter

The future of television as the leading platform for advertising in the UK is coming under threat as Google begins to overtake some of the biggest TV stations. The message for you: you can't afford to ignore online advertising any more...

According to Andy Duncan - Channel 4's chief executive (as reported in The Times), Google's revenues from advertising will outstrip that of Channel 4 over the next year - and possibly even those of ITV by 2008.

Naturally, his concern is for the future of broadcasting. If advertisers begin to take their money online rather than through his network then the very existence of paid-through-advertising TV is threatened.

TV offers many things that the online experience has yet to replicate. Google's ads are plain, text-only affairs with a few banners thrown in. Adverts on the box, offer striking visuals that can do far more for a company in terms of branding than a handful of characters on a monitor. It's pretty hard to remember the last memorable sponsored link you saw on Google. And for the big players, TV advertising offers shelter from the smaller competition who just can't afford the rates charged by TV channels.

But the pay per click model that has made Google what it is offers great incentives to business that TV currently has no answer for.

TV Ads: Born in a different era

As recently as the last decade, most British homes were receiving just 4 TV channels, and primetime shows could command the attention of impressive slices of the population. In fact TV was simply the only way for advertisers to reach millions of people.

The approach was, naturally, expensive. And also incredibly hit and miss. After all, beyond rough demographic data about who watches a TV show (men watch programs about cars and warfare, women watch soaps and makeover shows!) there was no way to really understand the viewership.

Ultimately, huge swathes of the TV advertising cash was, sadly, being wasted.

Enter Google

(or: "what 6000 phds and some marketing nous can deliver")

Google's AdWords idea is brilliant in its simplicity. It reverses the old advertising rules typified by TV. Instead of "broadcast to millions of vaguely defined people and hope," its model is: "show ads to millions of people who you know will be interested in them."

When visitors type a phrase in on Google's main search page, they are shown not just the normal search engine results, but ads that are entirely related to whatever the person is searching for.

In short, you know that:

  • You're showing a relevant ad...
  • ...at a relevant time...
  • ...to a person you know to be already interested in what you are selling.

The power that this puts in the hands of advertisers is hard to overstate. And it is little wonder that they are scrambling over themselves to spend their pounds online.

Still, the people selling TV advertising can still point to the unique visual qualities of TV in building brands. Some of the most memorable TV moments of recent decades have been the extremely compelling and creative efforts of ad producers. 15 years after their TV advertising came to an end, Shake 'n' Vac are still the market leader on the basis of their ads.

But there's an elephant in the room for television networks. With it's recent purchase of YouTube, Google has just bought a way to deliver exactly that kind of content through its online networks.

Get on the bus!

With it's unique auctioning system and 'pay per click' mechanism, it is possible for smaller companies to compete with bigger ones in way that would be unthinkable on television. For a few pounds a day, you can get guaranteed exposure.

But things are hotting up. If you're looking to get online, every market gets more competitive each day. And as competition rises - so do the prices. And like the old-style advertising agencies learned, getting the right message across can be hugely difficult. It is entirely possible to manage your own online advertising campaign through Google, but without a doubt you should consider hiring a professional firm who understand AdWords intimately and can deliver you the best results.

Today's moral

It isn't lights out time for TV any time soon. But its glory days are through, and the future is online. Starting now can get you a foot in the door at a crucial time. Choosing the right partners can see you heading your competitors off at the pass.

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