VentureBeat is reporting an unconfirmed rumor that Google (GOOG) is about to strike a deal with Echostar (DISH) to broker ads on Echostar's Dish Network satellite-TV service.
While this is an intriguing rumor, I find it unlikely for a number of reasons, both financial and technical.
Satellite TV, as I understand it, is fundamentally a one-way service. While Matt Marshall at VentureBeat points out some ways in which Dish's on-screen guide has become interactive, all of that information is local to the set-top box. Google thrives where it can target ads, not where it merely acts as a reseller. Its early experiments with brokering print and radio advertising have flopped largely because it hasn't added any value. Advertisers don't flock to Google's AdSense because it has an easy-to-use interface; they use it because targeted online ads deliver better results. Even if Echostar and Google manage to figure out a way to extract information from Dish set-tops, there's no way to deliver them. Satellite's one-way nature also means that its TV channels aren't customizable with unique ads. Everyone sees the same channel; everyone sees the same ads. On television, response and attention aren't measurable the way they are online. While websites can track clicks, how do you know the television watcher is even in the room? That said, it's possible Google and Echostar could find ways around these challenges. Here's my bet: Google and Echostar, if they do a deal, will start with placing ads on the listing pages themselves. If you click for listings of movies, you'll see trailers for coming attractions. If you search for home and garden shows, you'll get food ads. And so on.
It will be a lot easier to customize the already-interactive guide than to figure out the technical challenges of splicing ads into satellite-TV broadcasts. If this Google-Echostar deal does actually come together, that's my bet for how it will start.
Technorati Tags: Dish Network, Echostar, Google
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Posted by Owen Thomas on March 12, 2007 at 8:21 AM in Digital Media , Google , Online Advertising | Permalink
