Google abandons TV ad ambitions

After five years of trying to force the TV world to “go Google”, the search company has abandoned its scheme to trade broadcast ads in the same way as it does online banner ads.

In a victory for the traditional media establishment against a digital insurgent, Google quietly announced in a blogpost on Thursday evening that it would close its TV Ads in Adwords product later this year.

The service, which at one stage partnered with NBCUniversal and the Hallmark Channel, was supposed to combine the speed, flexibility and targeting capabilities of the web with the emotional punch of the 30-second spot.

But amid resistance from some parts of Madison Avenue, Google struggled to obtain enough airtime upon which to sell ads.

“In 2007, we launched Google TV Ads in AdWords to bring digital buying and measurement technologies to traditional TV advertising. Since then, lots of our clients have bought traditional TV advertising for the first time,” wrote Google’s Shishir Mehrotra.

“However, video is increasingly going digital and users are now watching across numerous devices. So we’ve made the hard decision to close our TV Ads product over the next few months and move the team to other areas at Google.”

The retreat comes despite new evidence this week that TV advertising fails to reach large portions of its target audiences. The news also follows remarks from Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising group WPP, on Thursday that “Google as a media owner will rival our relationships with the biggest traditional media corporations around the world”.