Google Tunes Ads to TV

And while the company is aiming for the ambitious goal of being a one-stop shop for all a marketer's needs, it is much more valuable in some media than in others.

Standard & Poor's analyst Scott Kessler sums up the sentiment of opportunity and skepticism that characterize Google's latest move. "We think this is an important development as Google pushes into more traditional media advertising, and we see significant opportunities for the company," he wrote in a research note Tuesday.

"However, we have been skeptical of Google's efforts in this area: For example, we do not think it has garnered much traction in the radio segment, despite notable initial interest and material company investment."

Indeed, Google's fumbled efforts in the radio advertising business could be more indicative of the road ahead in TV because the two media are similar -- and much different than online advertising.

For starters, Google cannot offer advertisers nearly as much transparency into user behavior on radio or TV as it does online. That's because there is no action users can take over those two media that replicates the click-through that characterize its online ad system.

Google's data may be helpful to advertisers -- it can, for example, let television advertisers understand which ad viewers tend to stay tuned until the show's end and put more money behind it -- but it cannot approach the value that Google offers online.