Google Tunes Ads to TV

Tune In, Turn Off?

Meanwhile, Google's mantra of transparency, which is appealing to advertisers, could turn off broadcasters. As Google's struggle to find enough ad inventory to sell in radio illustrates, transparency can cut into the profit margins of a broadcaster. Newspapers have taken a similar stance.

Though newspapers will give the search giant scraps they cannot move themselves, they've been hesitant to turn over their prime real estate.

With online advertising, Google sells ads against its own search results and is therefore free to make the rules. But when it hopes to sell ads among content that another company owns, the situation gets trickier. Often the publisher stands to make less -- not more -- money because of Google's entrance into the market.

Though EchoStar will be opening up all of its spots to Google, other TV stations that command higher rates may be much more resistant.

Transparency into a viewer's behavior may also be unwelcome by television broadcasters. Ratings -- the current standard for pricing television ads -- underscore how wide a broadcaster's reach is and emphasize the power of the medium. Advertisers are told about how many million households they can reach by purchasing expensive TV spots.

It's unclear why broadcasters would want to present data showing how many viewers are actually changing the channel during the very spot that advertisers are paying for.