Feb 20th, 2007
Google Agrees to Buy Adscape
One of my buddies is fond of pointing out that Google has no business model beyond being the search king, but it seems to me that Google is in the business of getting eyeballs - they’ve got eyeballs on this site & that has nothing to do with being a search engine.
With this acquisition, Google shows that they’re willing to go to unconventional locations to get the eyeballs, including video games. While I know everyone thinks of Google as “context sensitive text ads” I’m pretty sure they’ll bring the right kinds of innovation to in-game advertising as well.
One of the problems I see facing in-game ads is that there’s zero chance that they used a Coke just because that’s what happened to be lying around the studio, which is what someone may think about a TV show or Movie - someone had to sit there & program in that soda can - it’s deliberate, not casual. Dialogue, however, may still be up fo grabs. And why couldn’t the fast food places in Grand Theft Auto have been real fast food places?
“There is a whole world of difference between the form of advertising done by Google and Madison Avenue,” one source familiar with the in-game ad business said, comparing Google’s familiar text-based ads to the rich media used in videogames. “While everyone appreciates the dollars Google can throw around, when it comes to [in-game ad] experience they just don’t have it.”
At the end of the day, what Google brings is a history of innovation & the ability to test ideas before solidifying them - a level of flexibility that just isn’t known in modern gaming.