Google wants to make TV ads behave like they’re on the internet

This is interesting. Google is trialing technology on its Fiber network that would allow TV ads to behave more like the ones you see online.

In an announcement made on a Google forum group, the Fiber team said that in the next few weeks, it’ll begin showing ads that will be digitally delivered in real time and can be matched based on geography, the type of program being shown (eg, sports or news), or viewing history.

The trial will see ads shown during existing ad breaks, along with national ads, on live TV and DVR-recorded programs. The first people to see the new ad format will be Fiber TV subscribers in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri.

As the Google Fiber team points out in its post, the format is the next logical step in the kind of ad offerings you can already get with US cable networks. The major difference is that it can be targeted far more specifically than its TV equivalents.

Read more: Google Fiber: still exciting after all the hype

Another difference, it says, is that just as with digital ads, local businesses will only pay for ads that have been shown, and can limit the number of times an ad is shown to a given TV.

If nothing else, it sounds great for customers and would bring a greater degree of certainty to a space that relies on outdated metrics for its ad revenues.

It is those ratings however which allow the major TV broadcasters to bring in the revenues they do, so it’s difficult to see them adopting the format. The only hope, it would see, would be for Google to see a substantial roll out of its Fiber network.

Still, the format does suggest a possible direction for the future of TV advertising. In countries where internet services are don’t come bundled with cable TV subscriptions, it’s also possible that it could provide an effective way for streaming services to include ads in their own offerings.

The fact that users can opt out of seeing ads that are based on viewing history from the Fiber TV settings also opens up the possibility of paying slightly more for ad-free content in the future.