Google TV: The Holy Grail of Search

Google TV, an interactive platform that collapses the wall between TV and internet in the living room has arrived. The service, created with hardware partners Sony, Logitech and Intel, will launch this fall in the United States on TVs, set-top boxes and Blu-ray players and will arrive in Australia early 2011.

TV is the final screen for the search giant after it made its name in online search 10 years ago and moved into mobile with Android in 2007. While interactive TV has long been in the works from other providers, technology and a host of other issues have kept it from reaching a scale that would attract more money from major advertisers. Google’s existing relationships with advertisers for search and display ads, though, could theoretically turn the tide for interactive TV.

I’m excited by Google TV for a number reasons, not least of which is its arrival comes at a time in the birth of ‘new advertising’ in the form of apps, virtual goods, social media and yes, even online paid product placement. What makes Google TV so exciting for me is that every ad on TV now has the potential to become interactive and every piece of screen content for that matter, can be monetised through a whole host of new T-Commerce solutions.

Google TV also overlaps with Google’s efforts in mobile. The platform runs on Android, Google’s operating system for mobile phones. That means apps for Android phones that don’t require phone features like GPS will be available on Google TV from day one. Later, developers will also be able to design apps specifically for Google TV. This overlap with mobile development and apps opens the door for entirely new ad formats on TV beyond spots.

If Google’s endeavors in mobile can provide a roadmap, new ad formats for TV are soon to follow. Since launching Android, Google has released new ad units tailored for phones, such as click-to-call and expandable ads with maps and directions. The rich-media ads seen in mobile apps will also be possible on Google TV.

James Grant Hay is a Web-to-TV Strategist, he is currently working on a Social TV applications project with a major consumer electronics brand and is a listed developer with the TV App Marketplace in the Netherlands, EU.