Google and NBC team up on ads

NBC UNIVERSAL HAS inked a revenue-sharing ad deal with Google which will allow it to flog ads on several NBC cable channels through Google TV Ads.

The multi-year contract will initially include the Sci Fi, Oxygen, MSNBC, Sleuth and Chiller networks, but others could be added in the future.

The deal has several benefits for both companies, firstly Google continues to expand its advertising reach, while NBCU gets access to a whole range of new potential customers and a much deeper set of analytics for its ad campaigns.

"Our partnership with NBCU will help us to bring the power of television to a broader set of advertisers as well as give our current advertisers increased reach through our system," said Tim Armstrong, president of advertising and commerce for Google in the US, adding, "The Google TV ads platform is making television advertising more accountable and measurable and we are pleased with our progress to date."

While NBC's president of platform development and commercial operations, Frank Comerford explained that "This is a great way to reach clients who are interested in buying television advertising but may not have previously had the resources or ability to do so."

NBC has stressed that Google will be taking part of its airtime and that it will keep up its existing direct relationship with various ad agencies.

There is also an R&D section of the deal in which the two companies will develop ways of adapting Google's technology for local US markets.

Google has already expanded outside of pure internet advertising with previous radio and print deals. µ