Google Join Hands With NBC To Expand On TV Ad Sales

New York -- Google Inc. and NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co, on Monday said they are grouping up to form a strategic multi-year advertising, research and technology partnership, under which the search-advertising giant will get access to sell through its Google TV Ads service, the companies announced in a joint statement.

The move that could be seen as a major victory in Google’s quest to sell ad time in more targeted fashion that will expand Internet powerhouse efforts to become a force in television advertising, and in a way that would have a TV network give up some of its control over the ad-sales process.

“With the addition of NBC Universal inventory, advertisers using the Google TV Ads platform can reach NBCU Cable’s national audience and gain access to viewer-ship data at an unprecedented scale,” NBC Universal and Google said in a statement.

“This latest move would likely give the Mountain View, Calif.-based company a strong foothold in the business of television advertising.”

In a joint statement late on Monday, the two companies announced the multi-year deal between the GE media unit and Google. The deal calls for Internet search giant to employ its TV Ads platform to sell advertisements on some of NBCU’s cable networks, including Sci Fi Channel, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, Sleuth and Chiller channels, in the coming months.

Mike Pilot, president of NBC Universal sales and marketing, and Tim Armstrong, Google’s president of advertising and commerce for North America, said that the partnership would make TV ads more accountable.

Through an existing deal with DISH Network, the Google TV Ads service can report second-by-second TV usage data allowing advertisers to measure viewer-ship of their ads more precisely. The NBC-Google partnership computes on the data supplied by Dish set-top boxes in millions of U.S. homes.

“We are extremely pleased to join forces with Google on this effort, which will help us develop better accountability and [return-on-investment] metrics for our advertisers and attract an entirely new group of clients to television advertising,” Pilot said in a statement. “This is another step in our commitment to trying innovative advertising approaches and testing new technologies that can help benefit our clients.”

“The Google TV Ads platform is making television advertising more accountable and measurable and we are pleased with our progress to date,” Armstrong said in a statement. “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.”

NBC Universal and Google have also plan to work together to adapt the Google TV Ad service for use in local TV markets. They are also collaborating on custom marketing and research projects using Google TV Ads to survey audience trends.

NBCU said the deal could expand to other NBC Universal properties, including top-rated cable network USA Network and NBC, the fourth largest broadcaster, in the future.

“NBC Universal is a big win for us in terms of distribution growth,” said Michael Steib, director of Google TV Ads.

Google will have access to a small slice of the advertising inventory that brings in almost $6 billion a year for NBC Universal. Advertisers will be able to buy time on Sci Fi, which reaches 1.4 million viewers in prime time, as well as lower-rated cable channels.

The amount of inventory to be made available to Google is “fairly small by NBC Universal standards,” said Ed Swindler, executive vice president and chief operating officer for advertising sales at NBC Universal.

Getting “better metrics that are clearer, richer, deeper” is an “imperative” for NBC Universal, said Swindler. “And it does not stop with set-top-box data.”

Swindler said the amount of inventory may be adjusted “to make sure this test is successful.” He said the deal was significant regardless of scope.

“Any deal that allows us to change the model in favor of the advertiser to drive return on investment is a great deal,” he said.