Google’s TV Ad Selling Venture

There’s may be less here than meets the eye.

Description of Offering

• Remnant space on Echostar satellite’s 13 million homes.
• No information available on locations of Echostar subscribers.
• Ad units are inserted into positions reserved for local cable outlets so this is only cable.
• An auction system in which buyers offer bids for time which runs only if the bids are accepted.
• Audience data via satellite tuners is offered at no charge and is likely very accurate on a household viewing basis; i.e., no demographics.

Observation: Undifferentiated household viewing in a polyglot 13 million households (12% of all US TV HH) may be of value to some direct response advertisers who just want the lowest cost per unit of audience. Of limited perceived value to advertisers who want to know where and to whom their messages are delivered.

Recommendation: Pass on this until universe expands and there is more information on audiences.