NBC and Google form ad partnership

by Staff, Brand Republic 09-Sep-08, 09:15

NEW YORK - NBC Universal has signed a multi-year advertising, research and technology deal with Google which will see some of its cable TV airtime sold through the internet giant's TV Ads platform.

On a national level, NBCU will offer ad time from several of its cable networks to Google's TV Ads platform.

Inventory from Sci Fi, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, Sleuth, and Chiller will be made available to Google in the coming months, with the potential to be joined by other NBCU properties in the future.

With the addition of NBCU inventory, advertisers using the Google TV Ads platform will be able to reach NBCU Cable's national audience and gain access to viewership data.

Mike Pilot, president of NBC Universal sales and marketing, said: "We're extremely pleased to join forces with Google on this effort, which will help us develop better accountability and ROI metrics for our advertisers and attract an entirely new group of clients to television advertising."

NBCU and Google have also agreed to work together on adapting the Google TV Ads platform for local market use.

Tim Armstrong, Google's president of advertising and commerce in North America, said: "The Google TV Ads platform is making television advertising more accountable and measurable and we're pleased with our progress to date.

"Our partnership with NBCU will help us bring the power of television to a broader set of advertisers as well as give our current advertisers increased reach through our system."

As part of the agreement, NBC Universal will maintain its direct relationships with agencies and advertisers and will be able to set parameters around the purchase of the available ad time.

NBCU will also gain access to the advertisers using Google's AdWords online ad program, many of which are not currently television advertisers.

The two companies will share all ad revenue.

NBCU and Google will also collaborate on research projects using the Google TV Ads platform and intend to develop more effective advertising metrics.

This partnership follows Google's move into selling radio ads in 2006 after it acquired dMarc Broadcasting for $1bn, which allows advertisers to connect directly to radio stations through its automated ad platform, giving brand owners an easier way to track their campaigns.

Google also entered into the newspaper ad business that same year after it launched its Print Ads service that offers customers the chance to place ads in more than 50 titles in the US, including The New York Times and The Washington Post.